Why do Part-Time Workers invest less in Human Capital than Full-Timers?

We analyze whether lower investments in human capital of part-time workers are due to workers’ characteristics or human resource practices of the firm. We focus on investments in both formal training and informal learning. Using the Dutch Life-Long-Learning Survey 2007, we find that part-time workers have different determinants for formal training and informal learning than full-time workers. The latter benefit from firms’ human resource practices such as performance interviews, personal development plans and feedback. Part-time workers can only partly compensate the lack of firm support when they have a high learning motivation and imagination of their future development.education, training and the labour market;

Is part-time employment beneficial for firm productivity?

This paper analyzes whether part-time employment is beneficial for firm productivity in the service sector. Using a unique dataset on the Dutch pharmacy sector that includes the work hours of all employees and a “hard” physical measure of firm productivity, we estimate a production function including heterogeneous employment shares based on work hours. We find that a larger part-time employment share leads to greater firm productivity. Additional data on the timing of labor demand show that part-time employment enables firms to allocate labor more efficiently. First, firms with part-time workers can bridge the gap between opening hours and a full-time work week. Second, we find that during opening hours part-time workers are scheduled differently than full-timers. For example, we find that part-time workers enable their full-time colleagues to take lunch breaks so that the firm can remain open during these times.labour economics ;

Leren en werken

Het belang van leren en werken wordt steeds nijpender. Als gevolg van de ontwikkeling van een dynamische kenniseconomie is het noodzakelijk om het kennisniveau van de werkenden op peil te houden via leren op het werk. Deze noodzaak wordt versterkt door de vergrijzing van de beroepsbevolking.Het kennisniveau van werkenden kan op peil worden gehouden door middel van scholing, dat wil zeggen cursussen en trainingen. Echter, niet alle werknemers investeren even veel in scholing. In verschillende empirische studies wordt bijvoorbeeld gewezen op het feit dat werknemers met een laag opleidingsniveau minder vaak aan formele training deelnemen dan hoog opgeleiden (zie Fouarge, Schils en de Grip, 2009). Dit is merkwaardig omdat de bereidheid door werkgevers om trainingsdeelname door laag-opgeleiden te financieren groot is (Maximiano en Oosterbeek, 2007). Maar scholing is natuurlijk niet de enige manier waarop kennis wordt vergaard. Leren door te doen wordt in de economische literatuur gezien als een belangrijke bron voor kennisontwikkeling (Arrow, 1962). Onderzoek door ROA heeft laten zien dat een belangrijk deel van de kennis via het informele leren wordt vergaard (Borghans, Golsteyn en de Grip, 2007). Jongeren blijken gemiddeld veertig procent van hun werktijd te besteden aan leerzame werkzaamheden. Hoewel dit percentage negatief gerelateerd is aan iemands leeftijd, is dit percentage voor mensen die de pensioensgerechtigde leeftijd naderen nog steeds gemiddeld 25. Hoewel er geen verschil blijkt te zijn tussen de procentuele tijd die vol- en deeltijders besteden aan het informele leren, is er wel degelijk een verschil in de factoren die van invloed zijn op het informele leren van deeltijders en voltijds werkenden (Nelen en de Grip, 2008). Voltijders worden vooral door feedback van hun leidinggevende op hun functioneren gestimuleerd om informeel te leren op hun werk. Bij deeltijders is dit niet het geval. Zij blijken alleen meer informeel te leren wanneer ze zelf een duidelijk beeld hebben van hun verdere loopbaan.education, training and the labour market;

A Service of zbw The relation between maternal work hours and cognitive outcomes of young school-aged children The Relation between Maternal Work Hours and Cognitive Outcomes of Young School-Aged Children The Relation between Maternal Work Hours and Cogni

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. This paper is the first that analyzes the relation between maternal work hours and the cognitive outcomes of young school-going children. When children attend school, the potential time working mothers miss out with their children, is smaller than when children do not yet attend school. At the same time, working might benefit children through, for example, greater family income. Our study is highly relevant for public policy as in most countries maternal employment rates rise when children enter school. We find no negative relation between maternal working hours and child outcomes as is often found for pre-school aged children. Instead, we find that children's sorting test score is higher when their mothers work part-time (girls) or full-time (boys). Furthermore, we find that planned parent-child activities are positively related to children's language test scores. Nevertheless, we do not find that a richer home environment in terms of the number of parent-child activities provided to the child explain the relation between maternal work hours and children's test scores. This paper is the first that analyzes the relation between maternal work hours and the cognitive outcomes of young school-going children. When children attend school, the potential time working mothers miss out with their children, is smaller than when children do not yet attend school. At the same time, working might benefit children through, for example, greater family income. Our study is highly relevant for public policy as in most countries maternal employment rates rise when children enter school. We find no negative relation between maternal working hours and child outcomes as is often found for pre-school aged children. Instead, we find that children's sorting test score is higher when their mothers work part-time (girls) or full-time (boys). Furthermore, we find that planned parent-child activities are positively related to children's language test scores. Nevertheless, we do not find that a richer home environment in terms of the number of parent-child activities provided to the child explain the relation between maternal work hours and children's test scores. JEL Classification: D10, J13, J2

Is Part-Time Employment Beneficial for Firm Productivity?

With this article, the authors are the first to analyze and explain the relationship between part-time employment and firm productivity. Using a unique data set on the Dutch pharmacy sector that includes the working hours of all employees and a hard physical measure of firm productivity, the authors estimate a production function including heterogeneous employment shares based on working hours. The authors find that firms with a large part-time employment share are more productive than firms with a large share of full-time workers: a 10% increase in the part-time share is associated with 4.8% higher productivity. Additional data on the timing of labor demand show that this can be explained by a different allocation of part-timers compared with full-timers. This enables firms with large part-time employment shares to allocate their labor force more efficiently across working days

Employers’ willingness to invest in the training of temporary workers: A discrete choice experiment

Various studies have shown that temporary workers participate less in training than those on permanent contracts. Human resources practices are considered to be an important explanation for this difference. We develop a theoretical framework for employers’ provision of training that explicitly incorporates the costs and benefits associated with training investments in employees with different types of employment contracts. Our framework not only predicts employers to be less willing to invest in temporary workers due to the shorter time horizon associated with such an investment, but it also provides insights into how this willingness depends on characteristics of the training that are related to the expected costs and benefits of the training investment. A discrete choice experiment is used to empirically test the predictions from our theoretical framework. In line with our theoretical framework, we find that employers are less likely to invest in the training of temporary workers. This particularly holds when temporary workers do not have the prospect of a permanent contract with their current employer. Furthermore, we show that employers’ likelihood of investing in temporary workers indeed depends on aspects related to the costs and benefits of training, that is, a financial contribution to the training costs made by employees, a repayment agreement that applies when workers leave the organisation prematurely, and the transferability of the skills being trained. Our findings can be used to increase employers’ willingness to invest in temporary workers. However, similar effects are observed when looking at employers’ willingness to invest in permanent workers, suggesting that it will be difficult to decrease the gap in employers’ willingness to invest between temporary and permanent workers