Involuntary Temporary and Part-Time Work, Job Quality and Well-Being at Work

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of job contract types on perceived job quality, using the Finnish 2008 Quality of Work Life Surveys (QWLS) from the years 1997, 2003 and 2008. In the analysis, job contract types are adjusted to take into account the motive for doing temporary and part-time work. Our results from the Finnish QWLS imply that there are clear differences in job quality and work well-being by the type of job contract. Our results also show the importance of distinguishing between types of temporary and part-time work by the contract preference, i.e. whether these nonstandard employment arrangements are exercised involuntarily or not. Almost without exception, involuntary temporary and involuntary part-time workers’ experiences of their job quality are weaker with respect to core job quality indicators studied in this paper, such as training possibilities, participation in employer-funded training, career possibilities, possibilities to learn and grow at work, job insecurity, and job autonomy.