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Competing for hours: unstable work schedules and underemployment among hourly workers in Canada

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  • Elaine McCrate
  • Susan J Lambert
  • Julia R Henly

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between schedule instability and underemployment among hourly employees. The value to employers of specific hours of work often varies over short intervals, motivating variable scheduling and incomplete contracts that do not specify hours or availability. When employers offer variable weekly total hours, competition for scarce hours motivates employees to be available for work over a broader range of times. Workers may consequently be rewarded with more hours, but they garner fewer hours than their counterparts with stable hours. Cross-sectional analysis of the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey demonstrates that underemployment is significantly more likely among hourly workers on unstable schedules. Longitudinal analysis indicates that even among the initially underemployed, who are strongly motivated to increase their availability, switching into an unstable schedule results in significantly fewer hours, providing evidence of employer-driven constraints on hours. There is no evidence of compensating differentials for unstable schedules.

Suggested Citation

  • Elaine McCrate & Susan J Lambert & Julia R Henly, 2019. "Competing for hours: unstable work schedules and underemployment among hourly workers in Canada," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(5), pages 1287-1314.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cambje:v:43:y:2019:i:5:p:1287-1314.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cje/bey053
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Joshua Choper & Daniel Schneider & Kristen Harknett, 2022. "Uncertain Time: Precarious Schedules and Job Turnover in the US Service Sector," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(5), pages 1099-1132, October.
    2. Anja Gruber, 2026. "The Labor Market Impacts of Fair Work Legislation," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 79(1), pages 59-90, January.
    3. Lambert, Susan & Fugiel, Peter J., 2023. "Updating Measures of Work Schedules in Federal Surveys," SocArXiv j3dk5, Center for Open Science.
    4. Hyojin Cho & Susan J Lambert & Emily Ellis & Julia R Henly, 2024. "How Work Hour Variability Matters for Work-to-Family Conflict," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(6), pages 1611-1635, December.
    5. Francesco Roncone, 2025. "Work-Hour Instability, Occupational Mobility and Gender," Working Papers wp1201, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    6. Andrew Smith & Jo McBride, 2023. "‘It was doing my head in’: Low‐paid multiple employment and zero hours work," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(1), pages 3-23, March.
    7. Donald Houston & Colin Lindsay & Robert Stewart & George Byrne, 2025. "Local labour markets, workforce planning and underemployment," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 46(2), pages 522-545, May.
    8. Sung S. Park & Anne R. Pebley & Noreen Goldman & Mara Getz Sheftel & Boriana Pratt, 2025. "Examining Work Temporality Across the U.S. Latino Population by Nativity and Citizenship," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 1289-1326, April.

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