Part Time Work

The present paper is a result of a two-year intensive ethnography of an intercultural Japanese company. While most of the literature on the anthropology of work in Japan regarding foreign workers tend to focus mainly on two types of experiences - those of global companies in which foreign workers and expats take up on international careers in Japan; and those of low-skilled jobs in which foreign migrants usually take up undesirable occupations in Japanese society - this ethnography, however, focuses on a middle level company, in which white collar workers in precarious contracts seek for visa guarantees and some small income to help them sustain their lives in Japan without much chances of a career development. By situating this type of experience within the current discussions on precarity, 24/7 capitalism, and Japanese internationalization efforts, the present paper provides results that both confirm some of the assumptions embedded in these discussions, informs new pathways for potential developments, and challenges some mainstream images about foreign employment and labor in Japan.

This paper uses data from interviews with representatives of national and state organisations that have a policy interest in student-working in Australia. The interviewees included representatives from employer bodies and trade unions as well as government organisations. The data are used to discuss these stakeholders’ perceptions of the main advantages and disadvantages of working by young full-time students and the ways in which organisations in the business and educational sectors have adapted their policies and practices for student-working. The analysis is then used to inform a discussion about whether this is a legitimate area for public policy formulation and if so, what principles might underpin such policy and what some policies might look like.

An increasing amount of research now relates to full-time higher education students who work part-time during their study. However, little is known about this issue in the Irish context, despite the fact that the latter provides an interesting case-study due to its unprecedented economic growth in recent years and subsequent changes in the labour market. This paper attempts to address this gap in research and reports on a postal survey carried out among 3,900 higher education students. It aims to establish the profile of full-time higher education students engaged in part-time work during term-time. It also explores the motivation for engaging in paid work and possible implications of work-load on levels of life satisfaction. It is argued in this paper that inadequate policy attention to the changing profile of higher education students, their work-load and needs risks reinforcing inequalities among students.

The UK Gender Wage Gap And Gendered Work Histories Sylvia Walby and Wendy Olsen Paper presented to the Conference of the British Household Panel Survey, ... Email: S.Walby@leeds.ac. uk Wendy Olsen, Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, Faculty of ...

The paper compares employment structures in five Continental welfare states. These countries feature broad similarities in their reliance on a more dualised model of labour market flexibility, particularly in service occupations with low skill requirements. However, a closer look also reveals considerable differences between national patterns of standard and non-standard work. In Germany (and to a lesser extent Austria), marginal

In this paper we combine the findings from two recent studies relating to participation and attainment in school science – a re‐analysis of existing official data for England and a review of wider international research evidence in the literature relevant to the UK. Although the secondary data are drawn mainly from England, the comprehensiveness of these datasets, together with our inclusion of a review of international studies on maths and science participation provides a useful reference point for an international audience. The research was prompted by concerns over a reduction in the uptake of the physical sciences post‐16 and especially in higher education and interest in ways of encouraging the study of science by students from less prestigious socio‐economic status backgrounds. Such concerns are not unique to the UK. Using large‐scale official datasets we show that participation and attainment in science are stratified by socio‐economic status. Students from poorer families are less likely to take sciences at post‐16 than many other subjects and those who do are then less likely to obtain grades high enough to encourage further study of the subject. No conclusive evidence has been found to explain this satisfactorily. Plausible reasons suggested in the literature include the relative scarcity of local opportunities putting off those who do not wish to study away from home or the perceived time demands of studying science, and so the difficulties of combining part‐time study and part‐time work for those needing to continue earning while studying. Direct support from professional parents may also lead to greater participation in post‐16 science for students from higher SES. Perhaps the simplest explanation is that participation in science at any level is often predicated upon success at the previous educational stage. There are clear differences in science attainment at age 16 between students of differing backgrounds, which could explain the subsequent differential participation. However, these differences are not dissimilar to those for all subjects. The largest gap presented in the paper is between students eligible and not eligible for free school meals. We also show that these patterns appear early in the life of children. At ages 7 and 11, attainment in the three core subjects (English, maths and science) is negatively related to living in an area of deprivation. The paper ends with a discussion of suggestions for research, policy and practice emerging from this review of the evidence.

Purpose –This study examined the relationship between two types of mismatch (ie non-correspondence between preferred and actual number of hours), and affective commitment. It was argued that specific groups of employees, ie women and part-time ...

This paper asks whether part-time work makes women happy. Previous research on labour supply has assumed that as workers freely choose their optimal working hours on the basis of their innate preferences and the hourly wage rate, outcome reflects preference. This paper tests this assumption by measuring the impact of changes in working-hours on life satisfaction in two countries (the

In the present article, we attempt to devise a typology of forms of part-time employment by applying a widely used neuronal methodology called Kohonen maps. Starting out with data that we describe using category-specific variables, we show how it is possible to represent observations and the modalities of the variables that define them simultaneously, on a single map. This allows

This paper examines the role of behavioural and psychosocial risk and protective factors in explaining social inequalities in the general self-assessed health of women. Using path analysis, data from the Health Survey for England (1993) are used to demonstrate how different dimensions of social position (working conditions, general social advantage and material deprivation) have distinct pathways to ill-health. Smoking, diet, alcohol consumption, exercise, social support and job strain were all related to poorer health, but not always in the predicted direction. The effects of social position on health were not fully mediated through these risk and protective factors. Each dimension of social position had unique pathways to ill-health via other unidentified mechanisms. Furthermore, the salience of the three dimensions of social position differed according to the level of labour market attachment. Different path models are required to fit the data for women at home or in full-time or part-time work.

This article examines the increased incidence of work‐related qualifications for women in areas of work served by the vocational education and training (VET) system in Australia. Until 20 years ago, qualifications were generally available only for areas of work usually ...

Advantages and disadvantages of undergraduates undertaking part‐time employment are indicated from the western literature, together with discussion of the nature, amount and effects of part‐time employment. A study is reported of a university in China, using a ...

Why is there still a gender pay gap in Britain? What are its components? There have been major changes in gender relations and the structuring of the labour market, including anti-discrimination legislation, the closing of the gender education qualifications gap among young people, and increased paid statutory maternity leave. This study utilises the capacity of the British Household Panel

Increasing levels of physical inactivity and sedentariness are contributing to the current overweight and obesity epidemic. In this paper, the findings of two recent studies are used to explore the relationships between sitting time (in transport, work and leisure), physical activity and body mass index (BMI) in two contrasting samples of adult Australians. Data on sitting time, physical activity, BMI and a number of demographic characteristics were compared for participants in two studies-529 women who were participants in a preschool health promotion project ('mothers'), and 185 men and women who were involved in a workplace pedometer study ('workers'). Relationships between age, number of children, physical activity, sitting time, BMI, gender and work patterns were explored. Logistic regression was used to predict the likelihood of being overweight or obese, among participants with different physical activity, sitting time and work patterns. The total reported tim...