Elevator pitch
The share of workers employed part-time increases substantially in economic downturns. How should this phenomenon be interpreted? One hypothesis is that part-time jobs are more prevalent in sectors that are less sensitive to the business cycle, so that recessionary changes in the sectoral composition of employment explain the increase in part-time employment. The evidence shows, however, that this hypothesis only accounts for a small part of the story. Instead, the growth of part-time work operates mainly through reductions in working hours in existing jobs.
![Increase in unemployment and involuntary part-time employment over the Great Recession](http://www.ecmna114.com/wol/uploads/articles/397/images/IZAWOL.397.ga.png)
Key findings
Pros
During the Great Recession, in the US and the UK the increase in the share of workers employed part-time accounted for the bulk of the drop in hours per worker and almost all its persistence during the recovery period.
The lion’s share of the cyclical variation in part-time employment is accounted for by changes in the rate at which workers move between part-time and full-time work at their current employer.
Because part-time workers are more likely than the unemployed to return quickly to full-time hours, the effects of part-time work on consumption are much lower.
Cons
The increase in part-time employment observed during recessions is mainly involuntary; either because business conditions are poor at the current job or because workers cannot find a full-time job.
Individuals who move from full-time to part-time employment experience a substantial reduction in earnings.
Several years after the end of the Great Recession, the involuntary part-time employment share remains above its pre-crisis level in the UK and the US; the causes behind this persistence are not well understood.