Women In Part-Time Work: A Comparative Study Of Australia And The United Kingdom

Abstract

While cross-national differences in the prevalence of part-time work have long been noted, less is known about differences between countries in the conditions of part-time jobs and the extent to which these vary between long and short hours part-time workers. This article compares selected indicators of the conditions of employment (hourly earnings, training, autonomy and job security) for part-time female employees in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK), utilising data from the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS95) and the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey (WERS98). Although differences are small in some cases and there are some complexities in interpretation, the analysis generally shows poorer conditions for women working shorter hours, with the relative disadvantage of short hours groups most evident in the UK.