The Changing Job Skills of Female Part-time Workers in Britain 1992–2006

The work situation of female part-time workers has been a central focus of diverse interpretations of labour market disadvantage. While providing rather different accounts of why this should be the case, these share a view that part-timers are largely confined to jobs with lower levels of skill than full-timers. This article, drawing on nationally representative surveys, shows that the skill requirements of female part-time jobs have improved significantly since the early 1990s relative to male full-timers. While some sectors of part-time work have benefited more than others, there is evidence of polarisation only with respect to part-timers with different working hours. The overall rise in the relative skills of part-timers poses significant issues about employer practice with respect to the wider involvement of part-timers in the organisations for which they work.