Part Time Employment: the Australian Experience
Staff Working Paper
This paper by Joanna Abhayaratna, Les Andrews, Hudan Nuch and Troy Podbury aims to provide an overview of the changing role of part-time work in Australia and was released on 12 June 2008.
The objectives of the paper are to:
- provide a comparison of part-time work in Australia and overseas, and possible reasons for our relatively high reliance on this form of work
- present an assessment of the changing role of part-time work in Australia
- identify groups that are availing themselves of part-time work and industries that have higher proportions of part-time workers and how these have been changing over time.
Download the entire paper
Download the paper by chapters
- Preliminaries (PDF - 53 Kb)
Cover, Copyright, Contents, Preface and Abbreviations - Overview (PDF - 73 Kb)
- 1 Introduction (PDF - 67 Kb)
1.1 A snapshot of part time employment
1.2 Why part time employment is of policy interest
1.3 Structure of the paper - 2 International comparisons of part time work (PDF - 95 Kb)
2.1 The prevalence and growth of part time work
2.2 Comparisons based on gender
2.3 Comparisons based on age
2.4 Adjusted comparisons
2.5 Linking the present analysis and past evidence
2.6 Summary - 3 The nature of changes in part time employment (PDF - 58 Kb)
3.1 Model of year, age and cohort effects
3.2 Decomposing the changes in part time employment
3.3 Summary - 4 Demand side factors influencing part time work (PDF - 168 Kb)
4.1 The gradual lifting of institutional constraints
4.2 Demand side theories used to explain the level and rise in part time employment
4.3 Summary - 5 Supply side factors explaining part time employment (PDF - 68 Kb)
5.1 Supply side explanation - the time allocation model
5.2 The experience of men and women in part time employment
5.3 Decomposing the broad influences on part time employment
5.4 Summary - 6 Factors affecting part time employment of young workers (PDF - 61 Kb)
6.1 Women aged under 25 years
6.2 Men aged under 25 years
6.3 Study and part time work
6.4 Groups not included in the labour force data
6.5 Summary - 7 Factors affecting part time employment of prime age workers (PDF - 124 Kb)
7.1 Women aged 25-54 years
7.2 Men aged 25-54 years
7.3 Family formation and part time work
7.4 Summary - 8 Factors affecting the part time employment of older workers (PDF - 47 Kb)
8.1 Women aged 55-64 years
8.2 Men aged 55-64 years
8.3 People aged 65 years and over
8.4 Part time employment and retirement intentions among older workers
8.5 Summary - 9 Non life cycle related factors affecting part time employment (PDF - 45 Kb)
9.1 Probability of working part time for people with a disability
9.2 Part time work and health status
9.3 Do carers work part time?
9.4 Summary - 10 Aspirational and reluctant part time workers (PDF - 78 Kb)
10.1 Involuntary and reluctant part time workers
10.2 Aspirational part time employment
10.3 Summary - 11 Characteristics of part time jobs (PDF - 111 Kb)
11.1 What kinds of jobs are part time?
11.2 Work scheduling
11.3 Geographic distribution of part time jobs
11.4 Benefits and entitlements
11.5 Part time work and career prospects
11.6 Life impact and job satisfaction
11.7 Summary - 12 Income and wages (PDF - 121 Kb)
12.1 Part time pay
12.2 Do part time workers live in low income households?
12.3 The contribution of part time work to the household budget
12.4 Summary - 13 Summary and areas for further research (PDF - 25 Kb)
- Appendix A International comparisons (PDF - 80 Kb)
- Appendix B Changes to part time employment (PDF - 32 Kb)
- Appendix C Demand side factors (PDF - 23 Kb)
- Appendix D Supply side factors (PDF - 12 Kb)
- Appendix E Aspirational and reluctant part time work (PDF - 18 Kb)
- Appendix F Part time jobs characteristics (PDF - 46 Kb)
- References (PDF - 129 Kb)
Just briefly...
Printed copies
This Publication is available from the Media and Publications Section maps@pc.gov.au.
Have your say
We value your comments about this publication and encourage you to complete and submit the publications feedback form.