Underemployment
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Underemployment is the underuse of a worker because their job does not use their skills, offers them too few hours, or leaves the worker idle.[2] It is contrasted with unemployment, where a person lacks a job at all despite wanting one.
Examples of workers who may be considered underemployed include those who hold a part-time job but wish to work more hours, part-time workers who wish to work full-time,[3] and overqualified workers who have education, experience, or skills beyond their role's requirements.[4][5]
Underemployment has been studied from a variety of perspectives, including economics, management, psychology, and sociology.
In economics, underemployment has three different distinct meanings and applications.[according to whom?] Policy-makers may under-research these meanings when assessing the economy as they focus on unemployment instead:[3]
- "taxidriver.
- "Under hours"childcare and public transportation.
- "Overstaffing", "hidden unemployment", or "disguised unemployment" (also called "labor hoarding"[7]), the practice in which businesses or entire economies employ workers who are not fully occupied. For example, workers currently not being used to produce goods or services due to legal or social restrictions or because the work is highly seasonal.
Underemployment is a significant cause of
Underutilization of skills
In one usage, underemployment describes the
Two common situations that can lead to underemployment are
Another example of underemployment is someone who holds high skills for which there is low
As the tertiary education of most students in Western countries is fully or partially subsidized by government monies (because it takes place at a
A related kind of underemployment refers to "involuntary part-time" workers, who could (and would like to) be working on a standard work-week (typically
Underuse of economic capacity
Underemployment can also be used in
Relatedly, in
Underuse of employed workers
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The third definition of "underemployment" describes a polar opposite phenomenon: to some
This kind of underemployment does not refer to the kind of non-work time done by, for instance,
This kind of underemployment may exist for
In some countries, labour laws or practices (e.g. powerful
Cyclical underemployment refers to the tendency for the capacity utilization of firms (and therefore of their demand for labor) to be lower at times of recession or economic depression.[citation needed] At such times, underemployment of workers may be tolerated and indeed may be wise business policy, given the financial cost and the reduction of morale from shedding and then rehiring staff. Alternatively, paying underused overhead workers is seen as an investment in their future contributions to production. This kind of underemployment has been given as a possible reason why Airbus gained market share from Boeing. Unlike Airbus, which had more flexibility, Boeing was unable to ramp up production fast enough when prosperous times returned because it had dismissed a great part of its personnel in lean times.
Another example is the tourism sector, which faces cyclical demand in areas where attractions are weather-related. In some tourism sectors, such as the sun and sand tours operated by Club Med, the company can shed bartenders, lifeguards, sports instructors, and other staff in the off-season because there is such a strong demand for young people to work for the company since its glamorous beachfront properties are desirable places to work. However, not all tourism sectors find it so easy to recruit staff. Some tourism sectors require workers with unusual or hard-to-find skills. Northern Ontario hunting and fishing camps that require skilled guides may have an incentive to retain their staff in the off-season. Another example is companies that run tours for foreign tourists using staff speaking the travelers' native tongue. In Canada, guided tours are available for Japanese and German tourists in their native languages; in some locations, it may be hard for companies to find Japanese- or German-speaking staff and so companies may retain their staff in the off-season.
See also
- Unemployment
- Credentialism and educational inflation
- Dead-end job
- Discouraged worker
- Effective unemployment rate
- Job guarantee
- Labor force
- Overqualification
- Tang ping ("lying flat")
- Underearners Anonymous
- Working poor
References
- ^ O'Brien, Matt (19 November 2014). "Baristas of the world unite: Why college grads may be stuck at Starbucks even longer than they thought". Retrieved 7 April 2018 – via The Washington Post.
- ^ S2CID 158857001.
- ^ Chohan, Usman W. "Young people worldwide fear a lack of opportunities, it's easy to see why" The Conversation. September 13, 2016.
- ^ Chohan, Usman W. "Young, Educated and Underemployed: Are we Building a Nation of PhD Baristas" The Conversation. January 15, 2016.
- doi:10.1037/a0013528
- ^ Felices, G. (2003). Assessing the Extent of Labour Hoarding. Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, 43(2), 198–206.
- ^ Gallup, Inc. "Gallup Global Employment Tracking". Retrieved 15 October 2014. [dead link]
- PMID 38443080.
- ^ Vedder, Richard; Denhart, Christopher; Robe, Jonathan (January 2013). "Why are Recent College Graduates Underemployed? : University Enrollments and Labor Market Realities". Center for College Affordability and Productivity. Retrieved June 2, 2013.
Increasing numbers of recent college graduates are ending up in relatively low-skilled jobs that, historically, have gone to those with lower levels of educational attainment.
- ^ Pappano, Laura (22 July 2011). "The Master's as the New Bachelor's". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
- ^ Lederman, Doug (23 May 2018). "The Bad First Job's Lingering Impact". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
New report finds that bachelor's degree recipients whose first job does not require degree are more likely to remain "underemployed" five years later -- and women fare worse than men.
- ^ "Application form example internship". Applicationform Example. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
Further reading
- Dooley, David and JoAnn Prause. The Social Costs of Underemployment: Inadequate Employment as Disguised Unemployment. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81014-0.
- Maynard, Douglas C. and Daniel C. Feldman (Eds.). Underemployment: Psychological, Economic, and Social Challenges. Springer Business + Science. ISBN 1-4419-9412-2
External links
- A Study of Underemployment in Kentucky – The University of Kentucky
- Statistics Explained: Underemployment and potential additional labour force statistics (Europe) – Eurostat, April 2012
- United States Underemployment – US Bureau of Labor and Statistics