Abstract

Involuntary part-time employment is a measure of labor market slack that goes beyond the unemployment rate, and broadens our understanding of the state of the labor market. Our study investigates the determinants of the involuntary part-time employment share (i.e., the proportion of involuntary part-time workers in all employment) by accounting for both labor supply (unemployment) and labor demand (job vacancies). We use big data on the near universe of online job vacancies collected by Burning Glass Technologies and the Current Population Survey from 2003 to 2021. We find that, within a commuting zone by Census OCC cell, a 10% increase in the unemployment rate increases the involuntary part-time rate by 0.19 percentage points, while a 10% increase in job vacancies decreases the involuntary part-time rate by 0.07 percentage points. We also provide suggestive evidence that higher labor market concentration, which is indicative of greater labor market power, may raise involuntary part-time employment. Overall, we conclude that higher labor supply and lower labor demand increase involuntary part-time employment.

Funding

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Conference Presentation

Choi, H. & Marinescu, I. (March 2022). "The Impact of Labor Market Concentration on Unemployment and Underemployment”. Oral presentation, Midwest Economics Association Annual Meeting, Minneapolis.

Choi, H. & Marinescu, I. (November 2022).“The Labor Demand Side of Involuntary Part-time Employment". Oral presentation, Annual Meeting of the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management, Washington DC. 

Choi, H. & Marinescu, I. (January 2023). “Labor Market Concentration and Involuntary Parttime Employment”. Oral presentation, Meeting of Labor and Employment Relations Association with Allied Social Science Associations, New Orleans, LA.

Abstract

Purpose: The America Rescue Plan (ARP) transformed the Child Tax Credit (CTC) into a more generous, inclusive monthly payment from July through December 2021. However, the expansion has been terminated and the annual CTC has been reinstated. The United States is one of the few OECD countries that do not have a child allowance system and South Korea has recently adopted child allowance in 2018. This study aims to comprehensively review the existing literature and evidence on ARP-CTC in the United States and Universal Child Allowance (CA) in Korea.

Design/methodology/approach: The researchers completed a database search between July 1, 2022 and July 20, 2022. For the United States, the search keywords were child tax credit OR expanded child tax credit OR CTC OR child allowance. For Korea, the search keyword was child allowance. Searches were conducted using 79 databases. A total of 36 US studies and 7 Korean studies met all the inclusion criteria and proceeded to the extraction process. A narrative thematic synthesis approach was employed to identify themes in the findings. The results were organized based on the characteristics of the studies and the post-intervention outcomes.

Findings: Studies in the United States focused primarily on economic outcomes, including poverty and material hardship, reflecting the concern policymakers and researchers have about child poverty. On the other hand, Korean studies examined employment, economic well-being, psychological well-being and expenditures in a relatively balanced share. Overall, studies found that both ARP-Child Tax Credits and Universal Child Allowance reduced child poverty and improved material hardship. Also, studies in both countries suggested that both policies had positive impacts on parental psychological well-being.

Originality/value: To the authors knowledge, this paper is the first to comprehensively review the impact of the US ARP-CTC in comparison with the Korean child allowance. Two studies reviewed and updated the literature on US ARP-CTC as a round-up paper. Moreover, the authors conduct cross-national comparative analyses between the United States and Korea. The contexts of the child allowance system in the two nations have both similarities and differences, thereby offering a unique opportunity for a comparative study.

Abstract

This work examines power dynamics at play in the early child-saving movement as illuminated in the case records and annual reports of the Pennsylvania Society to Protect Children from Cruelty (SPCC) from 1878 to 1881 and triangulated with other historical records.1 We draw on ecological systems theory and urban ecology to examine social and spatial relationships between child-saving institutions, communities, and individuals and families. The paper adapts template analysis for archival research as a replicable approach for studying historical power dynamics embedded in social welfare institutions. This approach highlights the changing role of community members in identifying and responding to neglect and abuse and uncovers common themes that continue to impact the modern child welfare system.

Abstract

COVID-19 created an uncertain work environment, and anxiety for workers to come into work. Previous studies showed that U.S. part-time workers in retail sectors experience precarious work schedules that influence their job satisfaction. Disrupted business hours during the COVID-19 period have only exacerbated these issues for part-time workers, leading to working conditions that may have lowered workers’ job satisfaction. Using Amazon Mechanical Turk, we recruited, between July and August 2020, a sample of U.S. part-time workers in food and beverage retail stores (N=179). We examined how job satisfaction was predicted by anxiety and precarious work schedules. We found that anxiety was the most important determinant of job satisfaction. A 1 standard deviation increase in anxiety was associated with a 0.34 standard deviation decrease in job satisfaction. The lack of workers’ control over work hours was also associated with lower job satisfaction, but the effect was smaller than that of anxiety. Thus, employers who wish to increase workers' job satisfaction may consider procedural fairness when making scheduling decisions.

Funding

Summer Research Fellowship 2020, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania

Conference Poster

Choi, H. & Marinescu, I. (January 2022). ”Anxiety Undermined Job Satisfaction Among Essential Workers in the U.S. during the COVID-19 Pandemic”. Poster presentation, Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Work and Research, Washington, DC.

Abstract

How did the COVID-19 recession affect part-time workers who wanted full-time jobs? This paper compares the patterns and determinants of involuntary part-time employment during the Great Recession of 2007-2009 and the COVID-19 recession of 2020. We use data from the Current Population Survey from January 1994 to December 2022. Based on the experience of the Great Recession, one would have expected a large increase in involuntary part-time work during the COVID-19 Recession. Relative to these expectations, the surge in involuntary part-time employment in 2020 was subdued compared to the increase in unemployment. This can be explained by the distinguishing features of the COVID-19 recession: workers transitioning to unemployment due to business closures, and changes in consumer behavior driven by the fear of contagion. In particular, contact-based industries like leisure and hospitality experienced decreased demand, leading to more layoffs, and less hour reduction than other industries. Thus, they had a higher unemployment rate and a lower share of involuntary part-time workers. In the most adversely affected industries, employers were not able to adjust with hours reduction -- which would have increased involuntary part-time work -- but instead resorted to laying off workers. The labor market recovery from the recession in 2020 was also much swifter than the recovery after 2009: unemployed and under-employed workers in the COVID-19 recession were able to secure new employment relatively quickly, with dramatic decreases in both involuntary part-time employment and unemployment within a few months. This paper reveals how the COVID-19 recession reshaped the labor market through unemployment rather than underemployment, and how favorable conditions facilitate a surprisingly rapid recovery.

Funding

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Conference Presentation

Choi, H. & Marinescu, I. (March 2022). "Involuntary Part-time Employment in Two Recent Economic Downturns: Lessons from the Great Recession and the COVID-19 Recession.” Oral presentation, Midwest Economics Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.