Part-Time and Temporary Employment: A Gender Perspective

This essay disentangles the inequalities in the take-up of non-standard work by gender as well as the gender differences in its determinants, and the factors conducive to the ‘choice’ of non-standard employment. With reference to part-time employment the estimates confirm the high weight of family structure variables affecting women in relation to part-time work. Meanwhile, involuntary part-time work turns out to be more likely to occur for women, for less well-educated individuals, and for people living in the South. This paper also deals with the evaluation of the costs connected to non-standard jobs: on average an hourly pay penalty is attached to temporary work both for men and for women, while for part-time work this penalty operates for women only. Part-time and temporary work are negatively related to the probability of holding supervisory positions, Attention is also devoted to other elements of well being like the access to medical and dental assessment and treatments, showing a higher probability of temporary workers having unmet needs, related to affordability. The latter is probably connected to higher income uncertainty for temporary employees, and can magnify the cost of holding a temporary job by affecting health outcomes.