Part-time Work, Wages and Productivity: Evidence from Belgian Matched Panel Data

Arbeitspapier

The authors use matched employer-employee panel data on Belgian private-sector firms to estimate the relationship between wage/productivity differentials and the firm's labor composition in terms of part-time and sex. Findings suggest that the groups of women and part-timers generate employer rents, but also that the origin of these rents differs (relatively lower wages for women, relatively higher productivity for part-timers). Interactions between gender and part-time suggest that the positive productivity effect is driven by male part-timers working more than 25 hours, whereas the share of female part-timers is associated with wage penalties. The authors conclude that men and women differ with respect to motives for reducing working hours and the types of part-time jobs available to them: women often have to accommodate domestic constraints by downgrading to more flexible jobs, whereas male part-time work is frequently related to training and collectively negotiated hours reductions that do not affect hourly pay.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 7789

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
• Subject: wages ; productivity ; part-time employment ; gender ; matched panel data ; GMM

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Garnero, Andrea ; Kampelmann, Stephan ; Rycx, Francois
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2013

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/90063
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET