The Selection Effects of Part-Time Work: Experimental Evidence from a Large-Scale Recruitment Drive

Hyuncheol Bryant Kim (), Hyunseob Kim and John Zhu

No WP 2022-51, Working Paper Series from Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Abstract: We implement a field experiment to examine how part-time work attracts applicants with different quality and productivity levels than full-time work. In a large-scale recruitment drive for a data-entry position in Ethiopia, either a part-time or full-time job opportunity was randomly offered across villages. We find that the part-time work attracts a less qualified pool of applicants with a stronger preference for short work hours, who in turn exhibit lower productivity, all relative to the full-time work. Our preferred estimates show that this selection effect on productivity may explain up to half of the typical part-time wage penalty. A simple conceptual framework demonstrates that a lack of high quality potential applicants with a strong preference for short work hours could explain the experimental evidence. The results have implications for the selection effects of alternative work arrangements and for the gender pay gap.

Keywords: part-time work; alternative work arrangements; self-selection bias; labor productivity; wage-hour relation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J22 J24 M51 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60
Date: 2022-10-25
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-hrm and nep-lma
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https://doi.org/10.21033/wp-2022-51

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