Part‐time employment in Australia – Evidence for globalization?

Part‐time employment has expanded across most OECD countries over the past 25 years. Over the last two decades the Australian part‐time employment share has more than doubled to be around 26 percent of the workforce. This paper examines the growth in part‐time employment in Australia and in other OECD economies. In particular we are interested in assessing the extent to which global pressures, as represented by industry restructuring, provide a common explanation for the growing share of part‐time employment. Using shift share analysis the results suggest that industrial restructuring effects do explain some of the growth in part‐time employment, but more important is the growing intensity of part‐time employment across all sectors. This suggests that workforce feminisation, employer strategies and systems of labour regulation also require examination.