The Underemployed: Evidence From the UK Labour Force Survey for a Conditionally Gendered Top-down Model

Abstract

Systematic research into underemployment is limited in Britain and specific analyses of its relation to work-status are largely missing from the academic debate. The present study explores the impact of work-status on underemployment along with references to demographic indicators. We examine Labour Force Survey data through logistic regressions. Our results fit into what one might call a conditionally gendered top-down model: As measured by workplace characteristics, work-contracts and occupational levels, one's status at work inversely correlates with the likelihood of underemployment. Such a top-down propensity largely reflects a decline in demand for lower skills in the UK since the beginning of the recession in 2008. The model also has a gendered character which helps explain a relatively higher rise in female underemployment amid the economic downturn. However, this character rather takes a conditional form due to opposite gender disparities in different work settings. In female-dominated works including sales, customer services and part-time jobs, for example, women's underemployment is lower than men's, but it is higher in elementary occupations, especially because of glass-ceiling.

Underemployment in South Africa

“…Under both definitions the prevalence of underemployment was greater on individuals who are blacks, females, urban formal dwellers, working in elementary occupations or domestic workers, in the manufacturing, wholesale and retail, transport and private household industries, and in the informal sector or public sector. Source: Own calculations using OHS 1995-1999, LFS 2000and QLFS 2008-2014 data. 0.0975 0.0738 *** Significant at 1% ** Significant at 5% * Significant at 10% Source: Own calculations using QLFS 2008Q4 and 2014Q4 data.…”

Who Wants to Work More? Multilevel Study on Underemployment of Working Mothers in 22 European Countries

“…However, many mothers also work part-time voluntarily, which might alter the importance of part-time work (Kjeldstad and Nymoen 2012;Hipp et al 2015). As for the role of employment sector (public vs. private), evidence has been inconclusive (e.g., Caputo and Cianni 2001;Cam 2012), no hypothesis is formulated for that factor.…”

“…The results concerning the sector of employment have varied somewhat depending on the type of measurement. Working in the service sector in general is seen to increase the risk (Nord 1989), but whether this is an issue in the private sector (Cam 2012) or the public one (Caputo and Cianni 2001) remains uncertain.…”

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“…Although it also needs to be emphasised that wages tend to vary according to the types of work which day labourers are required to perform, in this case the participants complained that their wages for performing the same types of work also tended to vary considerably. Camou, (2009) maintains that day labourers often accept employment without having sufficient information concerning prospective employers, which results in their being subjected to abusive behaviour such as non-or under-payment of wages. Conversely, both Blaauw et al (2006) and Theodore et al (2015) suggest that even if there are negotiations between employers and day labourers, they do not necessarily guarantee that the day labourers will be paid for the work which they have performed.…”