Part-time Employment: A Bridge Or a Trap?

This text looks at the issues surrounding part-time work. Using Britain as a case, both the supply side and the demand side of part-time employment are examined. The main issues addressed are: the determinant of employers' demand for part-time workers; the extent to which part-time workers differ from full-time workers in terms of their respective employment conditions; the long term effect of part-time work experience on the labour market fortunes of women; and the different explanations for participation in part-time work. By analyzing these four aspects, this study seeks to examine the ways in which two labour market theories (that which calls for a deregulated labour market and that which demands greater protection for part-time employees) help us understand part-time work and the labour market. It also attempts to draw out some of the policy implications of the findings.