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Half a Job Is Not Enough 1 • AMERICA IS WORRIED ABOUT THE GROWTH OF PART-TIME and temporary employment. Time magazine, in a 1993 cover story, bemoaned "The Temping of America" (Castro 1993). A 1994 Fortune cover story trumpeted "The Contingency Work Force" (Fierman 1994). The new prominence of part-time and temporary jobs brings with it fears of widening instability and insecurity in the workforce. "If there was a national fear index," Richard Belous, chief economist for the National Planning Association, told Time's reporter, "it would be directly related to the growth of contingent work" (quoted in Castro 1993,44). But how much do we actually know about these growing forms of employment? Start with a key fact: out of the 25 percent of the U.S. workforce usually identified as contingent, roughly four fifths-the large majority -is accounted for by part-time workers.1 In addition, 40 percent of temporary workers work part-time hours (Plewes 1988). Part-time work is by far the most common form of nonstandard employment. Moreover, part-time work is not new. In 1957, 13 percent of the workforce toiled part-time. The part-time legions have grown gradually over the last 40 years, unlike the temporary workforce, which exploded fifteen-fold between 1968 and 1992 (while the labor force as a whole did not even double). What is new, or at least newer, is the long-term expansion of the involuntary part-time workforce-part-time workers who would prefer full-time work.2 Between the 1950s and the early 1970s, only voluntary part-time employment outgrew the workforce as a whole, while involuntary part-time work simply kept pace with workforce growth. Beginning in the early 1970s, these positions were reversed, and the ranks of involuntary part-timers swelled faster than overall workforce expansion. Copyrighted Material 1 2 Chapter 1 The result-a growing percentage of the working population who are trapped in part-time jobs against their will-is cause for serious concern. But despite the large size and long standing of the part-time workforce , and despite the warning flag raised by widening involuntary parttime employment, many questions about part-time work remain unanswered . Three major issues stand out, which this book shall address. Why is part-time employment growing? Since it is the involuntary part-time workforce that has grown in relative terms, it must be the choices of employers , not workers, that are driving the process. Why, then, are employers creating more part-time jobs? Second, what are the different types of part-time employment that serve distinct purposes for employers? And third, exactly how do businesses use and make decisions about their parttime workers? Should We Be Worried? Before digging more deeply into the questions, it is useful to return to the note on which this chapter opened: should we worry about the growth of part-time employment? Is it fair to disparage a part-time job as only "half a job"? No consensus reigns on this issue. In a variety of forums, experts argue whether part-time and contingent work represents the "innovation and flexibility" that are "the keys to successful work patterns of the future " (Randolph Hale of the National Association of Manufacturers, quoted in Bureau of National Affairs 1986, 91) or the basis of "a new sub-class of workers" (John Zalusky of the AFL-CIO, quoted in ibid., 99). Among Fortune 500 CEOs, 48 percent say the trend toward using more part-time and contingent workers is "good for the U.S." (Fierman 1994,32). But Deb Donaldson, a part-time retail clerk in Moline, Illinois, responds, "We understand it's just business, but it's still awfully demeaning " (quoted in Castro 1993, 46). In an optimistic view, part-time job growth could be seen as responsive to the needs of both businesses and employees. Potential workersstudents , housewives, retirees-want jobs on nonstandard schedules and perhaps are willing to accept somewhat lower compensation in return for this flexibility. Employers are looking for workers to staff peak times or odd hours. Part-time employment brings the two groups together in a felicitous match. The gradual growth of part-time employment reflects the increase of both sets of needs. If this were the explanation for part-time expansion, it would seem to be a fairly benign one. But this explanation is wrong. The expansion in the U.S. part-time labor market actually gives us a great deal of worry. Most importantly...

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