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The welfare effects of involuntary part-time work

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  • Daniel Borowczyk-Martins
  • Etienne Lalé

Abstract

Employed individuals in the USA are increasingly more likely to move to involuntarily part-time work than to unemployment. Spells of involuntary part-time work are different from unemployment spells: a full-time worker who takes on a part-time job suffers an earnings loss while remaining employed, and is unlikely to receive income compensation from publicly provided insurance programmes. We analyse these differences through the lens of an incomplete-market, job-search model featuring unemployment risk alongside an additional risk of involuntary part-time employment. A calibration of the model consistent with US institutions and labour market dynamics shows that involuntary part-time work generates lower welfare losses relative to unemployment. This finding relies critically on the much higher probability to return to full-time employment from part-time work. We interpret it as a premium in access to full-time work faced by involuntary part-time workers, and use our model to tabulate its value in consumption-equivalent units.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Borowczyk-Martins & Etienne Lalé, 2018. "The welfare effects of involuntary part-time work," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(1), pages 183-205.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:70:y:2018:i:1:p:183-205.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpx033
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    Cited by:

    1. Lewandowski, Piotr & Szymczak, Wojciech, 2024. "Automation, Trade Unions and Atypical Employment," IZA Discussion Papers 17544, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Griffy, Benjamin & Gomis-Porqueras, Pedro, 2020. "Part and Full-Time Employment over the Business Cycle," MPRA Paper 105095, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. David N. F. Bell & David G. Blanchflower, 2021. "Underemployment in the United States and Europe," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 74(1), pages 56-94, January.
    4. Nakamura, Daisuke, 2024. "Is part-time employment an adjusting valve?: Business cycle analysis on the labor market in Japan by dual search and matching model," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Piotr Lewandowski & Wojciech Szymczak, 2024. "Automation, Trade Unions and Involuntary Atypical Employment," IBS Working Papers 02/2024, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    6. Borowczyk-Martins, Daniel & Lalé, Etienne, 2020. "The ins and outs of involuntary part-time employment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure

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