Who Is Part-Time in Academe?

Abstract

Part-time employment in academe is different from most other types of part-time employment. The academic part-timer is usually well educated, has an expertise in one or several academic areas, and has at least some experience in the full-time labor market. In contrast, the part-timer in the over all labor force is more likely to be either a high school dropout or a person with limited years of schooling, to move from job to job with little sense of career progression, and to have limited experience in holding down a full-time job. The academic part-timer is likely to experience some cyclical instability in employment, particularly in periods where student enrollments are shifting; the typical nonacademic part-timer is likely to experience more frequent instability, brought on in part by the vulnerability of most part-time positions to economic downturns and by the menial character of many parttime positions.1 By the criteria set forth above, part-time employment in academe represents a more desirable career option than part-time employment elsewhere. It represents a way for a person to earn money and engage in productive activity without having to spend thirtyfive or more hours at the workplace. It probably also confers upon the occupant of a part-time position a measure of prestige and a feeling of identification with the largeracademic community. Persons differ in their reasons for becoming parttimers, and, as a result, their labor force behaviors will also vary. Part-time employment provides a unique advantage to those who want it flexibility of hours. In this sense, it offers an option to the educated that they would not otherwise have and thus it is likely to be viewed as good. For those who would prefer to work full-time this flexibility is likely to have little value; part-time employment may be viewed as a trap from which they cannot easily escape. For this reason, it is likely that the market for part-timers is a balkanized one, at least on the supply side.