Perceived Underemployment Among The Foreign-Born: Its Outcomes And The Moderating Role Of Psychological Empowerment And Perceived Organizational Support

In the present study the relationship between perceived underemployment and job attitudes such as job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment, and turnover intentions among foreign-born employees was examined. Underemployment occurs when employee education, skills, and previous job experiences are underutilized. Perceived underemployment was used as the specific type of underemployment to examine these relationships. Additionally, psychological empowerment and perceived organizational support (POS) were examined as potential moderators of the relationship between perceived underemployment and job attitudes. Foreign-born employees perceived themselves as moderately underemployed. In addition, there was a significant and negative relationship between perceived underemployment and job satisfaction; but perceived underemployment was not related to affective organizational commitment and turnover intentions. Furthermore, psychological empowerment and POS did not moderate the relationship between perceived underemployment and job attitudes but were directly related to these outcomes. These findings suggest that, as employees feel higher levels of underemployment, they are less satisfied with their jobs and perceive themselves to be less empowered and supported by their organizations. Organizational strategies to minimize the negative impact of perceived underemployment were suggested

Examining the Moderating Effect of Life Satisfaction on the Relationship between Perceived Underemployment and Job Attitudes among Millennials

Underemployment has been associated with negative attitudes and behaviors. However, little research attention has been paid to identify variables that might moderate the relationship between underemployment and job attitudes. Given that Millennials are one of the groups most susceptible to underemployment, I examined the relationship between perceived underemployment and job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction, intent to remain) using life satisfaction as a moderator among Millennial employees. Based on survey data from 552 Millennial employees across various sectors, results showed that perceived underemployment was negatively related to job satisfaction, intent to remain, and life satisfaction. Inconsistent with the prediction, life satisfaction did not moderate the relationship between perceived underemployment and these job attitudes. Strategies for employees and employers to minimize the negative impacts of perceived underemployment such as on-the job training or mentoring programs to learn new skills are suggested

Underemployment in urban and rural America, 2005-2012

Author Justin Young reports that underemployment (or involuntary part-time work) rates doubled during the second year of the recession, reaching roughly 6.5 percent in 2009. This increase was equally steep in both rural and urban places. By March of 2012, underemployment was slightly lower in rural places (4.8 percent) compared to urban places (5.3 percent). Prior to the recession, however, underemployment was slightly higher in rural America. Workers under age 30, as well as women, black, and Hispanic workers, continue to experience higher levels of underemployment. Underemployment is strongly linked with education, with the least educated workers experiencing higher rates of underemployment compared to more highly educated workers. This relationship is somewhat weaker in rural places

Determinants of Underemployment During the Early Career: A Longitudinal Multi-country Study

This paper explores the relative effects of individual, organizational, labor market, and societal components on underemployment of young adults during their early career. Quantitative underemployment, defined as periods of unemployment, temporary employment, and part-time employment is of psychological importance, because it delays or hinders the integration of career starters into the world of work by excluding them from the experience needed to develop competencies and knowledge essential for functional participation in the labor force. A first step to decrease the occurrence of underemployment for career starters involves a better understanding of the relative importance of contributing factors. This paper used a longitudinal multi-country study to explore the relative weight of individual, organizational, and macro level factors on the occurrence of underemployment. From a sample of career starters in two occupational groups with relatively good employment prospects in six European countries, the results confirmed the relationships of underemployment to gender, education, initial experience, labor market outlook, and the socio-economic and socio-political situation of the country. The country specific variance in underemployment proved to be the most important predictor of youngsters later probability to be underemployed: its effect was about 2.5 times as large as the variance explained by the initial labor market experience and 10 times as large as the effect of the educational level

Irreversibility, uncertainty and underemployment equilibria

In a competitive overlapping generation model, underutilization of labor and equipment can be due to the combination of irreversibility of human capital, physical capital and technology with idiosyncratic productivity shocks. Irreversibilities and uncertainty generate an inefficient allocation of resources among sectors, which takes the form of underemployment and underutilization of capacities at the aggregate level and affects the equilibrium path of capital. We provide examples in which this missallocation, called structural "mismatch," can be responsible, a.o., for an "inescapable poverty trap," or for periodic orbits generating endogenous fluctuations in underemployment

Gender segregation, underemployment and subjective well-being in the UK labour market

This article argues that gender segregation influences patterns of underemployment and the relationships that underemployment has with the subjective well-being of men and women. Previous studies have paid little attention to how gender segregation shapes underemployment, an increasingly prominent feature of the UK and European labour markets since the economic crisis of 2008. Using data from the UK Annual Population Surveys, this article examines time-related underemployment: people working part time because they cannot find a full-time job. The article asks whether there are gender differences in underemployment trends and in the links between underemployment and subjective well-being. The results suggest that the probability of underemployment is growing at a faster rate among women rather than men and that underemployment is most common in the jobs that women are more likely to perform, namely in femaledominated occupations, the public sector and small organizations. Underemployment is least common in male-dominated occupations and industries and in the private sector. Moreover, for employees with longer tenures, underemployment has more negative relationships with the subjective well-being of women than with that of men. These findings imply that gender segregation in labour markets is a crucial factor to consider when researching underemployment and its consequences

Market Entry Costs, Underemployment and International Trade

We develop a small, open economy, two-sector model with heterogeneous agents and endogenous participation in a labor matching market. We analyze the implications of asymmetric market entry costs for the patterns of international trade and underemployment. Furthermore, we examine the welfare implications of trade liberalization and find that under certain conditions the patterns of trade are not optimal. We also examine the robustness of our results when we allow for complementarities in the production function and for alternative matching mechanisms.Entry Costs, Patterns of Trade, Underemployment.

Unemployment equilibrium and economic policy in mixed markets

This paper considers a simple static Cournot-Nash model of an exchange economy with two productive sectors at flexible prices and wages. The traders in the atomless sector are price-takers, while the atoms behave strategically. We focus on the consequences of strategic interactions on the market outcome. Firstly, strategic interactions create underemployment on the labor market. Secondly, when the number of atoms increases without limit, the underemployment equilibrium coincides with the competitive equilibrium. Thirdly, we compare the welfare reached by traders at both equilibria. Fourthly, we consider the implementation of a tax levied on strategic supplies. Finally, we compare the approach retained with the usual monopolistic competition framework.

Irreversibility, uncertainty and underemployment equilibria.

In a competitive overlapping generation model, underutilization of labor and equipment can be due to the combination of irreversibility of human capital, physical capital and technology with idiosyncratic productivity shocks. Irreversibilities and uncertainty generate an inefficient allocation of resources among sectors, which takes the form of underemployment and underutilization of capacities at the aggregate level and affects the equilibrium path of capital. We provide examples in which this missallocation, called structural "mismatch," can be responsible, a.o., for an "inescapable poverty trap," or for periodic orbits generating endogenous fluctuations in underemployment.Underemployment; Underutilization; Irreversibility; Poverty trap; Endogenous Fluctuations;