Part-Time Prospects: An International Comparison

by Colette Fagan (Editor), Jacqueline O'Reilly (Editor)

Overview

The growth in part-time employment has been one of the most striking features in industrialized economies over the past forty years. Part-Time Prospects presents for the first time a systematically comparative analysis of the common and divergent patterns in the use of part-time work in Europe, America and the Pacific Rim. It brings together sociologists and economists in this wide-ranging and comprehensive survey. It tackles such areas as gender issues, ethnic questions and the differences between certain national economies including low pay, pensions and labour standards.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781134730414
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/31/2002
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jacqueline O’Reilly is Senior Research Fellow at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung and also teaches at the Royal Holloway School of Management, London University. She is currently co-ordinating a comparative research programme on employment in Europe funded by the Targeted Socio[1]Economic Research Programme from DGXII of the European Commission. Colette Fagan is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Liverpool and an Honorary Research Fellow at the European Work and Employment Centre, at UMIST. Her research focuses on gender relations in labour markets, working time and the organisation of domestic life, with a particular interest in international comparisons.

Table of Contents

1 Conceptualising part-time work: the value of an integrated comparative perspective PART I Who wants part-time work and on what conditions? 2 Where and why is part-time work growing in Europe? 3 When do men work part-time? 4 Why don’t minority ethnic women in Britain work part-time? 5 Are part-time jobs better than no jobs? 6 Are benefits a disincentive to work part-time? 7 Part-time work: a threat to labour standards? 8 How does part-time work lead to low pension income? PART II International perspectives 9 Culture or structure as explanations for differences in part-time work in Germany, Finland and the Netherlands? 10 Why is part-time work so low in Portugal and Spain? 11 How does the ‘societal effect’ shape the use of part-time work in France, the UK and Sweden? 12 What is the nature of part-time work in the United States and Japan? 13 Why is the part-time rate higher in Japan than in South Korea? 14 Will the employment conditions of part-timers in Australia and New Zealand worsen?

Editorial Reviews

Presents a wide-ranging survey of major issues concerning the recent growth of part-time work in industrialized economies. Examines the different debates and circumstances in the US, Japan, and Europe, dealing with questions surrounding the nature of part-time work in the US and how it compares to the situation in Australia, Britain, and the rest of Europe, and with recent legislation in Britain that has brought the subject of part-time work to the forefront. The editors are affiliated with London University and the University of Liverpool. Material originated at a September 1996 workshop. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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