Labor Market Transitions of Involuntary Part-time Workers:How Hard Is It To Get Back To Full-time Jobs?
Open Access
- Author:
- Tunceli, Ozgur
- Graduate Program:
- Agricultural Economics
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 12, 2006
- Committee Members:
- Jill Leslie Findeis, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Stephen Michael Smith, Committee Member
Stephan J Goetz, Committee Member
Amy Glasmeier, Committee Member - Keywords:
- multinomial probit models
labor market transitions
involuntary part-time labor
CPS - Abstract:
- In 2006, 3% of the total labor force worked part-time because they could not find enough work. The economic cost of reduced hours not only means lost income and benefits for involuntarily part-time workers, but the loss of potential goods and services for the economy as well. An analysis of involuntary part-time employment therefore is an important part of understanding the nature and magnitude of the underutilization of human resources in the U.S. economy. Yet relatively little research has been devoted to studying involuntary part-time employment and transition patterns among labor market participants in different residential areas. This study uses pooled cross-sectional March CPS data between 1996 and 2005 to identify the determinants of involuntary part-time employment and associates these variables with transitions into and out of involuntary part-time employment using matched and pooled data from the March CPS for 1996 to 2004. Results show that the probability of transitioning into full-time work remains lower than 50% highlighting the difficulty of a worker finding more hours over a one-year period. Moreover, gender and residential disadvantages exist for those who want longer hours, i.e., women are less likely to move into full-time jobs than men and workers who live in central cities and non-metro areas are less likely to find full-time jobs than their suburban counterparts.