Based on a survey of employers, examines the scheduling demands placed on low-skill workers and the availability of sick leave, paid time off, and benefits allowing for the care of family members. Compares benefits for entry-level and next-step jobs

Gregory Acs

Pamela J. Loprest

English

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Today’s 24/7 economy increasinglydemands that businesses provide serviceslate into the night if not around the clockand on weekends too. As such, employersmust find workers to fill the night shift,work on weekends, and be flexibleenough to change their schedules toaccommodate the flow of work. But whilesome employers demand flexibility fromworkers regarding when and how muchthey work, many jobs do not provide thebenefits and schedules that workers needto be responsible parents as well as goodemployees. For example, jobs that have irregularwork schedules or require work at “off”times—night or weekend hours—may cre-ate difficulties for workers needing toarrange care for children or other familymembers. In addition, the ability to takepaid days off for themselves or to care forfamily members is also important forworkers with children, elderly or sickfamily members, or who themselves are illor disabled. Although all workers face thechallenges of today’s demanding workplace, workers in low-skill jobs may findit particularly hard to meet these chal-lenges not only because of low pay butalso because their jobs offer fewer benefitsand less flexibility than higher-skill,higher-paying jobs.This brief examines the schedulingdemands employers placed on the workersthey recently hired to fill noncollege jobs—jobs that do not require college degrees. Italso assesses the availability of paid timeoff, sick leave, and other benefits that allowrecently hired workers in noncollege jobsto meet their personal and family needs.Unlike other research that quantifies work-ers’ needs for steady schedules and paidtime off, this brief shows what the jobsavailable to less-skilled workers demand ofthem and provide to them. This analysisuses data from the 2007 Survey of Employ-ers in the Low-Skill Labor Market, anational survey of employers that haverecently filled a job that requires less than acollege education (see box for more infor-mation about the survey). We present results for all recently fillednoncollege jobs; we also compare jobs thatare entry level with other noncollege jobsthat have more substantial requirements—next-step jobs. We refer to a noncollege jobas a next-step job if an employer considershaving a high school diploma, having priorjob-specific experience, or having specificskills training an extremely important1Low-Skill Jobs, Work Hours, and Paid Time OffGregory Acs and Pamela LoprestEmployers in the Low-Skill Labor Market Brief No. 2, November 2008THE URBAN INSTITUTEThe Survey of Employers in the Low-Skill Labor Market is a national survey ofemployers with low-skill jobs. Firms with four or more employees that had hired aworker into a job that did not require a college degree within the past two years weresurveyed, representing about 2.1 million employers. Data were collected in springand summer 2007, with a final sample of 1,060 employers and a response rate of 54 percent. The data in this brief are weighted to represent the job opportunities forworkers in the low-wage labor market. Many jobs in the non-college labor marketdemand flexibility fromworkers but do notprovide benefits toaccommodate workers’needs for flexibility.  Employers in the Low-Skill Labor Market2requirement for the job. We classify all jobsfor which none of the three criteria areextremely important as entry-level jobs.About 30 percent of all recently filled non-college jobs are entry-level jobs paying anaverage of $9.25 an hour; the remaining 70 percent are next-step jobs paying anaverage of $13.85 an hour. Employer Demand for Workerswith Flexible SchedulesJob applicants’ willingness to be flexibleabout work hours is important to employersfilling noncollege jobs. For half of all recentlyfilled noncollege jobs (49 percent), employ-ers report that a worker’s willingness towork odd or flexible hours weighed heavilyin their hiring decision (figure 1). Workerflexibility mattered somewhat for about athird of these jobs, and it did not matter atall for only a fifth of them. Compared withother factors that employers consider whenfilling noncollege jobs, flexibility about workhours is as important as work experienceand more important than references or skilltraining. The only factors more important inhiring than worker flexibility are the softskills of having a positive attitude, desire towork hard, and doing well in the job inter-view, all of which are considered veryimportant in about three-fifths of all recentnoncollege hires. Willingness to work odd or flexiblehours is also important in hiring for entry-level jobs. As shown in figure 1, in 55 percent of recently filled entry-level jobs,employers say this willingness weighed alot in the hiring decision. Work Schedules in Noncollege JobsA significant number of noncollege jobshave changing or irregular hours orrequire work at “off” hours, either at nightor on the weekend. Table 1 shows the usualwork shift for noncollege jobs and the fre-quency of overtime and weekend work onthese jobs. Although the majority of noncollegejobs are day shift, almost a third of themare not. One-fifth of noncollege jobs areevening or night shift hours, and anothertenth have rotating shifts. Among entry-level noncollege jobs, almost one-fifth arerotating shifts. It is unclear how problem-atic night shift schedules are for less-skilled workers. Although paid child careoptions for night shift hours are more lim-ited than for day shifts, evening or nighthours may facilitate sharing care dutiesbetween two working parents or otherfamily and friends who work day hours.Rotating shifts with changing or irregularhours pose more potential difficulties infinding care arrangements. In addition,jobs with these schedules are lower quality;they pay significantly lower wages, andthey are less likely to offer health insurancethan noncollege day-shift jobs.Work on the weekends, like night shifts,may make finding formal paid child caremore difficult but may make sharing carewith working family or friends more feasi-ble. About 3 in 10 noncollege jobs requirefrequent weekend work, and another 1 in 4require weekend work occasionally. Inentry-level jobs, these schedules are moreFIGURE 1.  Importance of Schedule Flexibility in Hiring for Noncollege JobsSource: Authors’ calculations from Survey of Employers in the Low-Skill Labor Market.Note: Differences between entry-level and all other noncollege jobs are not statistically significant at the p <. 10 level.Entry-level noncollege jobsAll noncollege jobs49.319.116.229.131.654.7Not at allSomeA lot0 10 20 30 40 50 60Percent of jobs for which willingness to work odd or flexible hours is importantEmployers in the Low-Skill Labor Market3common with 38 percent requiring frequentweekend work, and 29 percent requiringoccasional weekend work. Off-hour or irregular-hour work sched-ules are just as common in small firms(fewer than 100 employees) as large firmsand in rural as nonrural areas (not shown).Noncollege jobs with these work schedulesare more common in low-wage industries,such as retail trade, hotel services, healthservices, and personal services (not shown). Frequent overtime represents anotherpotential difficulty in scheduling for work-ers with care responsibilities, although italso provides additional income. About 11 percent of recently filled noncollege jobshave frequent overtime work, and another32 percent sometimes have overtime.Frequent overtime is more common inentry-level noncollege jobs—17 percent—than in next-step jobs, but occasional over-time is less common. We do not know howmany of these hours are voluntary—that is,whether workers can decline to work over-time without negative repercussions.On the other hand, some employersoffer flexible time scheduling policies,where employees can define their owndaily or weekly schedule. A little morethan one-quarter of noncollege jobs arewith employers that have such a policy,although we do not know if it applies tothese noncollege jobs or how easily work-ers are able to use this flexibility. We doknow that noncollege jobs with employersthat have this policy pay similar wages toother noncollege jobs. This flexibility inchoosing hours may be most helpful tothose working jobs that require rotating orchanging shifts. However, only 15 percentof noncollege jobs with flexible hours poli-cies have rotating shifts. Noncollege Jobs and Paid LeavePaid sick leave or flexible paid time off isvaluable for all workers but is especiallyimportant for those with low incomes whocan less afford to forgo wages even whenthey are sick. Further, noncollege workerswith chronic health problems or disabilitiesmay have greater need for this leave. Forthose workers who have care responsibili-ties for children or other family members,the ability to take paid time off to care forothers is an important job benefit. Not allpaid leave or paid sick leave allows work-ers this flexibility. Some employers have moved awayfrom offering sick leave (with requirementsthat workers provide documentation) tooffering a specific number of paid days (orpersonal days) that can be used for variouspurposes. Because of the different value toTABLE 1. Work Schedules on Noncollege JobsSource: Authors’ calculations from Survey of Employers in the Low-Skill Labor Market.a Employees can define their own daily or weekly schedules.* Difference between entry-level and all other noncollege jobs is statistically significant at the p <. 10 level.All Entry-levelnoncollege jobs noncollege jobs(%) (%)Usual work shiftDay 69.2 58.5*Evening 15.5 15.1Night 4.7 7.1Rotating 10.5 19.3*Frequency of overtime workFrequently 10.6 17.4*Occasionally/sometimes 32.1 23.3*Rarely/never 57.2 59.2Frequency of weekend workFrequently 29.3 37.5*Occasionally/sometimes 24.3 28.9Rarely/never 46.4 33.5*Flexible time scheduling policya 26.9 25.2Employers in the Low-Skill Labor Market4workers of sick leave or flexible paid leaveversus paid vacation, the survey askedemployers about any paid leave as well asabout vacation, sick leave, and personaldays separately. In addition, we directlyasked employers if the worker in a noncol-lege job could take paid time off to care fora sick child or family member. Many jobs in the noncollege labormarket offer some type of paid leave in theform of paid vacation, paid sick days, orunspecified paid time off. Just over 71 percent of noncollege jobs have sometype of paid leave (figure 2). An additional11 percent of workers in these newly fillednoncollege jobs would become eligible forpaid leave if they work more hours orremain with the employer. Across all non-college jobs, paid leave is more prevalentin large firms. Although many noncollege jobs dooffer some paid leave, substantially fewerof these jobs specifically offer paid sickleave (48 percent) or paid personal days (37 percent). Not all noncollege jobs withpaid leave allow this leave to be used tocare for sick family members. According toemployers, 53 percent of these jobs allownoncollege workers to take paid time off tocare for a sick child or other family mem-ber. Nevertheless, these types of leave arelikely the most flexible, allowing workersto take leave when they are sick. Eventhough other forms of paid leave like paidvacation days and paid holidays are morecommon (64 percent have paid vacationdays), they are less flexible than paid sickleave because paid holidays occur on fixeddates and paid vacation days may requirepre-approval. This makes them less usefulto cover periods of illness. Noncollege jobs offer less in the way ofpaid leave than jobs that require a collegedegree or more. For comparison, the per-cent of all private-sector workers with paidsick leave in 2006 is 57 percent, and theshare with paid vacation is 77 percent.1Within noncollege jobs, entry-level noncol-lege jobs are less likely to offer any type ofpaid leave. A little more than half of thesejobs have some paid leave, about a thirdoffer sick leave, half offer paid vacation,and just over one-fifth offer paid personaldays. Further, only 31 percent of entry-level noncollege workers can use paidleave to care for a sick child or other familymember. Workers in noncollege jobs withoutaccess to paid time off may be able to takeunpaid leave. The Family and MedicalLeave Act guarantees unpaid leave to eligi-ble workers with health problems as wellas those who need to care for family mem-bers in ill health. It also protects the jobs ofworkers who take unpaid leave. However,only employers with 50 or more workersare legally required to give unpaid leave,and only workers who have been with theemployer for 12 months and have worked1,250 hours are eligible. Nevertheless,FIGURE 2.  Paid Leave for Noncollege JobsSource: Authors’ calculations from Survey of Employers in the Low-Skill Labor Market.* Difference between entry-level and all other noncollege jobs is statistically significant at the p <. 10 level.Entry-level noncollege jobsAll noncollege jobs0 10 20 30 5040Percent60 70 8031.2*53.421.136.663.655.0*71.149.6*48.132.3*Any paid leaveSick leavePaid vacationPaid personal daysPaid time off to carefor sick family memberEmployers in the Low-Skill Labor Market5almost all noncollege jobs allow workers totake unpaid leave to care for a sick child orfamily member. Only 3 percent of employ-ers that recently filled a noncollege job saythe worker cannot take unpaid time off forthis. Policy ImplicationsMany jobs in the noncollege labor marketdemand flexibility from workers in termsof work schedules but do not provide ben-efits (such as paid sick leave that can beused to care for oneself and one’s family)to accommodate workers’ needs for flexi-bility. This issue is especially acute forentry-level noncollege jobs requiring littleprior experience, skills, or training. Proposed mandates that requireemployers to provide a minimum numberof paid sick days or paid days of leavedirectly address the lack of such benefits forworkers. Most proposals are not restrictedto low-skill work, but they may be particu-larly beneficial to low-skill low-wage work-ers covered under the proposals. Jobs withcertain employers, however, like those withfew employees, may be exempt. At the federal level, Congress is con-sidering legislation that would requireemployers with 15 or more workers to pro-vide a minimum of seven paid days of sickleave for those who work at least 30 hoursa week. San Francisco and Washington,D.C., have already mandated employersprovide paid leave days. These cities didnot exempt small employers but requiredfewer than seven days of paid leave. Paidleave policies are under consideration inseveral other jurisdictions.Some states already provide some paidtime off through state programs. For work-ers experiencing temporary health prob-lems, several states including California,Hawaii, New Jersey, New York, and RhodeIsland offer temporary disability insurance(TDI), which provides partial wagereplacement while workers are unable towork. California was the first state toextend the TDI program to offer six weeksof paid family leave for new parents or tocare for sick family members. New Jerseyhas followed this lead, adding six weeks ofpaid family leave to its TDI programbeginning in July 2009. Washington Statehas also passed a paid family leave pro-gram and is working out program details.In addition, California has laws requiringemployers to allow workers who haveaccrued sick leave to use up to half of thisleave to care for sick family members andto allow workers some unpaid leave timeto attend children’s school activities.In addition to paid leave, supports thatmake holding jobs with changing sched-ules easier are important. These includechild care that is available at off hours.Efforts to work with employers to providemore notice to employees about schedulechanges and/or allow some employeechoice when formulating irregular-hourschedules could also have importantimpacts for workers. In addition, a busi-ness case can be made for offering flexibil-ity and paid leave: the costs of not havingpaid sick leave include lower worker pro-ductivity, “presenteeism” (coming to workwhile sick), and job loss.2Notes1. Bureau of Labor Statistics, data from the 2006National Compensation Survey. Accessed June2008 at http://www.bls.gov/ncs/ebs/home.htm.2. See Vicki Lovell, “No Time to Be Sick: WhyEveryone Suffers When Workers Don’t Have PaidSick Leave” (Washington, DC: Institute forWomen’s Policy Research, 2004).Additional InformationFor a comprehensive review of related research and amore complete discussion of the survey and findings,see Gregory Acs and Pamela Loprest, “Understandingthe Demand Side of the Low-Wage Labor Market”(Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 2008).THE URBAN INSTITUTE2100 M Street, NWWashington, DC 20037Address Service RequestedNonprofit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDPermit No. 8098Easton, MDTHE URBAN INSTITUTE2100 M Street, NWWashington, DC 20037Copyright © 2008Phone: 202-833-7200Fax: 202-467-5775E-mail: pubs@urban.orgFor more information,call Public Affairs: 202-261-5709or visit our web site,http://www.urban.org.To order additional copies of this publication, call 202-261-5687 or visit our online bookstore,http://www.uipress.org.This series was funded by a grant from the Ford Foundation. The Survey of Employers in theLow-Skill Labor Market was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Health and HumanServices and the Ford Foundation. The survey data were gathered by Mathematica PolicyResearch.The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the UrbanInstitute, its board, its sponsors, or other authors in the series.Permission is granted for reproduction of this document, with attribution to the Urban Institute.

Low-Skill Jobs, Work Hours, and Paid Time Off

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Low-Skill Jobs, Work Hours, and Paid Time Off

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