Explaining Cross-National Variation in Part-time/Full-Time Differentials Among Women

Abstract

We investigate wage gaps between part-time and full-time women workers in six OECD countries as of the middle 1990s. We use comparable microdata, available through the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS), from Canada, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the UK, and the US.

First, we assess cross-national variation in the direction, magnitude, and composition of the part-time/full-time wage differential. Second, we analyze variation across these countries in occupational segregation between part- and full-time workers.

We find a part-time wage penalty in all countries, except Sweden. The extent to which observed differences explain the wage gap varies enormously, from a low of 9% of the gap in Italy, to 93% of the gap in the UK. Differences in occupation between part- and full-time workers dominate the portions of the wage gaps that are explained by observed differences between the two groups of workers.