The interest in the nature and consequence of low pay has steadily increased during recent years. This interest is a result of the fact that certain countries in the European Union have seen an expansion of low-wage employment as a response to the increase in unemployment. Although various aspects have been identified and measured with regard to low pay, there has been little consideration of the impact of part-time work on low wages, and of the main reasons for the much higher rate of low-wage-earners among women than men. This article brings together the available information on the link between low pay, the much higher rate of low pay among women than men, and the interaction between low pay and part-time employment. Section 2 reviews the knowledge on gender differences with regard to low pay; section 3 focuses on the link between low pay and part-time work; earnings mobility being an important part of the puzzle, the existing evidence is reviewed in section 4; section 5 gathers together the information on living standards; conclusions are presented in section 6.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Arai, M., Asplund, R. and Barth, E. ( 1998) 'Low Pay, A Matter of Occupation', in Asplund, R., Sloane, PJ. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.
2.
Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds) (1998a) Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
3.
Asplund, R., Bingley, P. and Westergård-Nielsen, N. ( 1998b) 'Wage Mobility for Low-Wage Earners in Denmark and Finland' , in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
4.
Asplund and Persson (1999) 'Low Pay - A Special Affliction of Women', ETLA, Helsinki, Finland, mimeo.
5.
Balsan, D., Hanchane, S. and Werquin P. ( 1998) 'Sub-minimum-Wage Employment, Earnings Profiles and Wage Mobility in the Low-skill Youth Labour Market: Evidence from French Panel Data 1989-1995', in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
6.
Bazen, S., Gregory, M. and Salverda, W (eds) ( 1998) Low-Wage Employment in Europe, Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.
7.
Bigard, A., Guillotin, Y. and Lucifora, C. ( 1998) 'Earnings Mobility: An International Comparison of Italy and France', Review of Income and Wealth, 44(4), 535-54.
8.
Bingley, P., Bjorn, N.H. and Westergård-Nielsen (1995) Wage Mobility in Denmark 1980-90. Aarhus: CLS Working Paper 95-10.
9.
Blau, F. and Kahn, L.M. ( 1996) 'International Differences in the Male Wage Inequality: Institutions versus Market Forces', Journal of Political Economy , 104.
10.
Bound, J., and Johnson, G., (1992) 'Changes in the Structure of Wages in the 1980's: An Evaluation of Alternative Explanations', American Economic Review, 82(3), 371-92.
11.
Brown, C. ( 1999) 'Minimum Wages, Employment and the Distribution of Wages' , in Handbook of Labour Economics, vol. 3B, ed. Aschenfelter O.C. and Card, D, 2101-2163.
12.
Cerc (1991) 'Les bas salaires dans les pays de la Communauté économique européenne' , Document du CERC n°101, 2ème trimestre.
13.
Concialdi, P. ( 1997) 'Les bas salaires en France (1983-1995)', Document de travail n°. 97.02, IRES, France.
14.
Concialdi, P. and Ponthieux, S. ( 1999) `L'emploi à bas salaires : les femmes d'abord', Travail, Genre et Sociétés. La revue du MAGE , 1/1999, 23-41.
15.
Delvaux, B., Verly, J. ( 1992) 'Le bas salaires en Belgique', Bulletin de l 'IRES, n°. 161, UCL , Belgium.
16.
Deutsch, J., Flückiger, Y., Silber, J. ( 1999) 'Analyse des "bas salaires" et des "working poors" en Suisse', paper presented at the AEA conference on Employment, Inequalities and Social Policies in Pau, France, May 20-21 1999.
17.
Dolado, J., Kramarz, F., Machin, S., Manning, A., Margolis, D., Teulings, C. ( 1996) 'Minimum Wages: The European Experience', Economic Policy.
18.
Dolado, J.J., Felgueroso, F. and Jimeno, J.F. ( 1998) 'The Effects of Minimum Wages: Evidence from Spain' , in Bazen, S., Gregory, M. and Salverda, W (eds), Low-Wage Employment in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
19.
Eriksson, T. ( 1998), 'Long-Term Earnings Mobility of Low-Paid Workers in Finland' , in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar
20.
Gregory, M. and Elias, P. ( 1994), 'Earnings Transitions of the Low Paid in Britain, 1976-91: A Longitudinal Study', International Journal of Manpower , 15, 170-188.
21.
Hultin, M. and Szulkin, R. ( 1997), 'De lågavlönade på arbetsmarknaden - en analys av kvinnor och män under två decennier' (The low-paid in the labour market - an analysis of women and men over two decades), in Persson, I. and Wadensjö, E. (eds), Kvinnors och mäns löner - varför så olika? (Women's and men's wages - why so different?) . Stockholm: Arbetsmarknadsdepartementet, SOU1997:136.
22.
Jepsen, M., Meulders, D. ( 1998a) 'Quality of Employment and Gender', Transfer2/98, Brussels.
23.
Jepsen, M., Meulders, D. ( 1998b) 'Working Time Reduction and Social Security'paper presented at 2nd International Research Conference on Social Security, Jerusalem, Israel, 25-28 January 1998.
24.
Jepsen, M., Meulders, D. and Terraz, I. ( 1999a) 'Les femmes à temps-partiel: un noveau risque de pauvreté en Belgique', in collaboration with D. Meulders, and I. Terraz, in Travail, Genre et Sociétés. La Revue du MAGE, 1/1999, 71-85.
25.
Jepsen, M., Meulders, D. and Terraz, I. ( 1999b) 'Working-time, Women and Poverty in Belgium', presented at the AEA conference on Employment, Inequalities and Social Policies in Pau, France, May 20-21 1999.
26.
Jepsen, M., Meulders, D. and Terraz, I. ( 1999c), Working-time, Women and Low Wages, in S. Gustafson, D. Meulders (eds.) Gender and the Labour Market. Econometric Evidence on Obstacles in Achieving Gender Equality, MacMillan, forthcoming.
27.
Jepsen, M. ( 2000) 'The price for working part-time: effect of part-time on hourly pay for women in Belgium, Denmark and France', presented at the AEA conference on Human Resources in Helsinki , Finland, September 22-23 2000.
28.
Joshi, H. and Paci, P. ( 1998) Unequal Pay for Women and Men, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
29.
Katz, L.F. and Murphy, K.M., (1992) 'Changes in Relative Wages, 1963-1987: Supply and Demand Factors', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(1), 35-78.
30.
Keese, M., Puymoyen, A. and Swaim, P. ( 1998) 'The Incidence and Dynamics of Low-Paid Employment in OECD Countries', in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
31.
Lucifora, C. ( 1998), 'Working Poor? An Analysis of Low-Wage Employment in Italy', in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
32.
Maier, F. ( 1994), 'Institutional Regimes of Part-Time Working', in Schmid, G. (ed), Labor Market Institutions in Europe. London: M.E. Sharpe.
33.
Marleir, E., and Ponthieux, S. ( 2000) 'Les bas salaires dans les pays de l'UE', Statistiques en bref Theme 3 - 11/2000, EUROSTAT.
34.
Marx, I. and Verbist, G. ( 1998) 'Low-paid Work and Poverty: A Cross-Country Perspective' , in Bazen, S., Gregory, M. and Salverda, W (eds), Low-Wage Employment in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
35.
McKnight, A. ( 1998) 'Low-wage Mobility in a Working-life Perspective' , in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.
36.
Murphy, K.M. and Welch, F. ( 1992) 'The Structure of Wages', Quarterly Journal of Economics, 107(1), 285-326.
37.
Nolan, B. ( 1998), 'Low Pay, the Earnings Distribution and Poverty in Ireland, 1987-1994', in Bazen, S., Gregory, M. and Salverda, W (eds), Low-Wage Employment in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
38.
Oecd (various years), Employment Outlook July , Paris.
39.
Pedersen, P.J. and Smith, N. ( 1998) 'Low Income in Denmark, 1980-1995', CLS Working Paper 19, December 1998.
40.
Plasman, R. and Rycx, F. ( 2000) 'Négociations collectives et performances sociéconomiques: une comparaisons international', La revue de l'IRIS, N°. 32, 2000/1.
41.
Robson, P., Des, S., Wilkinson, F., Salido Cortes, 0., (1999) 'Low Pay, Labour Market Institutions, Gender and Part-time Work: Cross-National Comparisons', European Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 5, N°. 2, 187-207.
42.
Salverda, W.( 1993) 'Low Pay in the Dutch Economy', paper presented at the international conference on the economic analysis of low pay and the effects of minimum wages, 30/9-1/10/1993, Arles, France.
43.
Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. ( 1998), 'An Econometric Analysis of Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Britain', in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
44.
Smits, W. and Willems, E. ( 1998) 'Low Wages of School Leavers of Vocational Education in the Netherlands', in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
45.
Stewart, M.B. and Swaffield, J.K. ( 1998) 'The Earnings Mobility of Low-Paid Workers in Britain' , in Asplund, R., Sloane, P.J. and Theodossiou, I. (eds), Low Pay and Earnings Mobility in Europe. Cheltenham : Edward Elgar.
46.
The Economic Journal (1996) The Policy Forum Section, May 1996
47.
Theodossiou, I. ( 1998) 'The Employer Capital Investment - Wage Effect: A Demand Side Explanation of Low Pay', Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen, mimeo.
