Collaborative Research: Worker Insecurity and the Institutionalization of Part-Time Work

兼职工作是世界各地的工人面临的一个重要的潜在不安全感来源，但在工人不安全感的背景下，它还没有得到充分的研究，部分原因是兼职工作的含义和测量的跨国差异。本项目考察了兼职工作与几种形式的感知工人不安全感之间的关系，包括近期失业威胁的感知，对失业威胁的担忧，以及在劳动力市场上找到类似工作的感知困难。该项目侧重于多个层面的分析，提出以下问题：兼职员工是否比全职员工更缺乏安全感？这是否因国家而异？在国家层面上，兼职劳动力的规模与平均不安全程度之间的关系是什么？根据2005年国际社会调查项目（ISSP）工作导向III模块的个人层面数据与宏观层面数据相关联，初步结果显示，在其他条件相同的情况下，兼职工作者比全职工作者更缺乏安全感。然而，各国在非全时工作不安全感方面的差距差异很大，非全时工作比例较高的国家，其平均工人不安全感水平往往较低。为了解释这些看似矛盾的发现，调查人员开发了一个“兼职工作制度化”的模型，该模型指的是在雇主使用兼职工作时指导决策和行动的脚本和共享规则的创建和延续。利用这一框架，研究假设，在兼职工作制度化到以下程度的国家，兼职和全职工人在感知工人不安全感方面的差距将最小：A)相当数量的男性从事兼职工作（即使大多数兼职工人是女性），B)兼职工人与全职工人享有同样的法律保护和福利，C)大多数兼职工人是自愿受雇于这些职位，D)兼职工作不集中在低工资职业。该模型将使用ISSP和其他与宏观层面数据相关的调查数据进行测试，其中包括一个国家级数据集，该数据集将包含2000年至2010年期间50多个国家和多个时间点的兼职工作和其他劳动力市场特征的汇总措施。更广泛的影响从这项研究中获得的关于感知工人不安全感来源的知识，对于关注兼职和其他形式的非标准工作对工人健康、家庭和社区的影响的学者和政策制定者具有重要意义。调查结果还将影响到欧洲部分地区关于“弹性”政策的辩论，这些政策旨在协调雇主对灵活工作安排（如兼职工作）的偏好与工人的就业保障。此外，新的国家级数据集将提供给感兴趣的学者、教师和研究人员，以检查兼职工作和其他类型的非标准工作。这些数据还可以补充其他宏观或微观层面的数据，以检验其他社会经济结果。此外，该项目将涉及对定量研究方法、比较社会学、工作和职业感兴趣的本科生和研究生，研究人员将寻求助手，他们将在项目的每个阶段提供帮助，从而获得宝贵的研究技能。最后，主要研究人员将根据该项目制作几份报告和学术出版物。

SES-1324000PI: Andrew FullertonOklahoma State UniversitySES-1324019PI: Jeffrey DixonHoly Cross CollegePart-time work is an important potential source of insecurity that workers around the world face, but it is understudied in the context of worker insecurity, partly because of the cross-national variation in the meanings and measurements of part-time work. This project examines the relationship between part-time work and several forms of perceived worker insecurity, including the perceived threat of job loss in the near future, worries about the threat of job loss, and the perceived difficulty of finding a comparable job in the labor market. Focusing on multiple levels of analysis, this project asks: Do part-time workers feel more insecure than full-time workers? Does this vary by country? At the country level, what is the relationship between the size of the part-time workforce and average levels of insecurity? Based on individual-level data from the 2005 International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Work Orientations III module linked to macro-level data, preliminary results reveal that workers in part-time jobs feel more insecure than workers in full-time jobs, all else equal. However, the size of the part-time gap in worker insecurity varies substantially across countries, and countries with higher rates of part-time work tend to have lower levels of average worker insecurity. To account for these seemingly contradictory findings, the investigators develop a model of the "institutionalization of part-time work," which refers to the creation and perpetuation of scripts and shared rules that guide decisions and actions regarding employers' use of part-time work. Using this framework, the research hypothesizes that the gap in perceived worker insecurity between part-time and full-time workers will be smallest in countries in which part-time work has been institutionalized to such a degree that: A) a substantial number of men work part-time (even if most part-time workers are women), B) part-time workers have the same legal protections and benefits as full-time workers, C) most part-time workers are employed in those positions voluntarily, and D) part-time work is not concentrated in low-wage occupations. This model will be tested with ISSP and other survey data linked to macro-level data, including a country-level dataset that will contain aggregate measures of part-time work and other labor market characteristics for more than 50 countries and several time points between 2000 and 2010.Broader ImpactsThe knowledge gained from this study about the sources of perceived worker insecurity has important implications for scholars and policy makers concerned with the consequences of part-time and other forms of non-standard work on workers' health, families, and communities. The results will also bear on debates about "flexicurity" policies in parts of Europe, which are intended to reconcile employer preferences for flexible work arrangements (such as part-time work) with employment security for workers. Furthermore, the new country-level dataset will be made available to interested scholars, teachers, and researchers to examine part-time work and other types of non-standard work. These data can also be supplemented with other macro- or micro-level data to examine other socioeconomic outcomes. Additionally, this project will involve undergraduate and graduate students who have an interest in quantitative methods of research, comparative sociology, and work and occupations, and the researchers will seek assistants who will help in each stage of this project and gain valuable research skills as a result. Finally, the principal investigators will produce several presentations and scholarly publications based on this project.