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Back-to-front Down-under? Part-time/Full-time Wage Differentials in Australia

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  • Alison Booth
  • Margi Wood

Abstract

In 2003, part-time employment in Australia accounted for over 42% of the Australian female workforce, nearly 17% of the male workforce, and represented 28% of total employment. Of the OECD countries, only the Netherlands has a higher proportion of working women employed part-time and Australia tops the OECD league in terms of its proportion of working men who are part-time. In this paper we investigate part-time full-time hourly wage gaps using important new panel data from the new Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey. We find that the usual negative part-time wage penalty found in other countries is not found in Australia once unobserved individual heterogeneity has been taken into account. Instead, part-time men and women typically earn an hourly pay premium. This result survives our numerous robustness checks and we advance some hypotheses as to why there is a positive part-time pay premium.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison Booth & Margi Wood, 2004. "Back-to-front Down-under? Part-time/Full-time Wage Differentials in Australia," CEPR Discussion Papers 482, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:dpaper:482
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    File URL: https://www.cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEPR/DP482.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Main, Brian G M, 1988. "Hourly Earnings of Female Part-time versus Full-time Employees," The Manchester School of Economic & Social Studies, University of Manchester, vol. 56(4), pages 331-344, December.
    2. Mark Wooden & Diana Warren, 2003. "The Characteristics of Casual and Fixed-Term Employment: Evidence from the HILDA Survey," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n15, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    3. Alison L. Booth & Jan C. Van Ours, 2009. "Hours of Work and Gender Identity: Does Part‐time Work Make the Family Happier?," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(301), pages 176-196, February.
    4. Booth, Alison & Ravallion, Martin, 1993. "Employment and Length of the Working Week in a Unionized Economy in which Hours of Work Influence Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 69(207), pages 428-436, December.
    5. Joan R. Rodgers, 2004. "Hourly Wages of full-time and part-time employees in Australia," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 7(2), pages 231-254, June.
    6. Wayne Simpson, 1986. "Analysis of Part-Time Pay in Canada," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 19(4), pages 798-807, November.
    7. John F. Ermisch & Robert E. Wright, 1993. "Wage Offers and Full-Time and Part-Time Employment by British Women," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(1), pages 111-133.
    8. Barry T. Hirsch, 2005. "Why Do Part-Time Workers Earn Less? The Role of Worker and Job Skills," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(4), pages 525-551, July.
    9. Alison Booth & Martin Ravallion, 1993. "Employment and Length of the Working Week in a Unionized Economy in which Hours of Work Influence Productivity," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 69(4), pages 428-436, December.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Karabchuk, Tatiana, 2012. "Part-time and temporary workers in Russia: winners or losers?," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 45(1), pages 23-39.
    2. Mark Wooden & Diana Warren & Robert Drago, 2009. "Working Time Mismatch and Subjective Well‐being," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 47(1), pages 147-179, March.
    3. Daniel Fernández-Kranz & Marie Paul & Núria Rodríguez-Planas, 2015. "Part-Time Work, Fixed-Term Contracts, and the Returns to Experience," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 77(4), pages 512-541, August.
    4. Giovanni Russo, 2012. "Job and Life Satisfaction Among Part-time and Full-time Workers: The “Identity” Approach," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 70(3), pages 315-343, September.
    5. Fernández-Kranz, Daniel & Rodríguez-Planas, Núria, 2011. "The part-time pay penalty in a segmented labor market," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 591-606, October.
    6. Lixin Cai, 2009. "Effects of Health on Wages of Australian Men," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(270), pages 290-306, September.
    7. Cain Polidano & Domenico Tabasso, 2013. "Making It Real: The Benefits of Workplace Learning in Upper-Secondary VET Courses," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2013n31, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    8. Síle O'Dorchai & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2007. "The part‐time wage penalty in European countries: how large is it for men?," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(7), pages 571-603, October.
    9. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2010. "Insecurity of Employment and Work-Life Balance: From the viewpoint of compensating wage differentials," Discussion papers 10052, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    part-time; full-time; efficiency hours; gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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