Part-Time Prospects: An International Comparison [Hardcover]

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.The book 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.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 dont 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?Jacqueline OReilly is Senior Research Fellow at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin f?r Sozialforschung and also teaches at the Royal Holloway School of Management, London University. She is currently co-ordinating a compl“V