Martin Watts has raised a number of interesting questions about
the causes of the growing inequality in wages and incomes. A couple
of recent studies by Statistics Canada suggest that the polarization
largely reflects a polarization in the number of hours worked per
week. The two studies are: "What is Happening to Earnings Inequality
in Canada?", R. Morissette, J. Myles and G. Picot (#60); and "What is
Happening to Weekly Hours Worked in Canada?", R. Morissette and D.
Sunter (#65).
Quoting from the latter study:
"Morissette, Mules and Picot (1993) argue that greater pressures placed
on firms to increase the flexibility of their workforce may have led
them to make more intense use of part-time employment while requiring
longer hours from their "core" workers. Increases in the fixed costs of
employment (e.g. fringe benefits, training and hiring costs) combined
with possibly stronger competititve pressures in the eighties may have
induced firms to restrict hiring and require longer hours for some of
their workers. (p. 2)
[They show that] over the last decade, inequality in annual earnings rose
in Canada among all male earners and among workers - men and women -
employed full-time full year. Most important, they find that the growth
in inequality in annual hours worked underlie most of the rise in
earnings inequality observed during the eighties. Their work further
suggests that growing inequality in weekly hours across individuals is ]
an important factor behind the rise of earnings inequality. How has
inequality in weekly hours evolved during the eightiers in Canada?
The answer is stratforward: over the last decade the distribution
of weekly hours has become more unequal for men but not for women.
The 1981-82 recession triggerred increases in inequality for both sexes. Howeve
r, ws
however, while inequality remained at higher levels for men through
the subsequent recovery, it trended downwards for women between 1983 and
1989. Between these two years, the distribution of weekly hours became
more equal for women because ... women employed in part-time jobs
increased their hours more rapidly than those working in full-time jobs.
(p. 5)
It would appear that the "disappearing middle" refers not only to
incomes, but also to hours of work. I think that this is the
argument of Juliette Schor's _Overworked American_, but I haven't
had a chance to read it since someone stole it from our library.
Paul Phillips,
University of Manitoba
