Flexible Workplace Solutions for Low-Wage Hourly Workers

The second important distinguishing feature of low-wage hourly workers’ schedules is whether
those schedules are full-time or part-time. Working full-time is more common among workers in lowwage
hourly jobs on both standard and nonstandard schedules than working part-time. However, a
signifi cantly higher percentage of low-wage hourly workers on nonstandard schedules work part-time
compared to those on standard schedules, 43% vs. 14%.
Many of these part-time workers would prefer
to work more hours. We categorize the problem
of involuntary part-time work as schedule
instability, which we discuss in depth in Part 2.
About 45% of low-wage hourly workers working
nonstandard schedules (part-time and full-time)
indicated that a daytime shift was the most
common shift they were scheduled to work,
followed by an evening shift, rotating shift,
variable or split shift, and night shift. (See
Table 4).
Growth Trends in Low-Wage
Jobs
The U.S. DOL’s occupational projections
for 2008 to 2018 show that seven out of
the ten occupations in which job growth
was predicted are typically low-wage
occupations. 53 The industry sectors in which
economic growth is occurring — retail,
service, and health care — are industries
with a high proportion of low-wage jobs. 54
TABLE 3: Schedule Types of Workers
in Low-Wage, Hourly Jobs
Full-time
Part-time
Regular daytime
Regular evening
Regular night shift
Rotating shift
Split, flexible, variable,
or other type of shift
Standard
hours
86.5%
13.5%
48.4%
12.9%
11.8%
13.9%
12.9%
Nonstandard
hours
56.5%
43.5%
TABLE 4: Schedule Types of Employees
Who Work Nonstandard Hours
Full-time
Part-time
44.8%
18.9%
5.6%
15.4%
15.3%
In particular, the U.S. DOL projects that
the retail sector will add 1 .6 million new
jobs, reaching 16.7 million by 2014, and
will continue to be the dominant source
of employment and the largest source of
employment growth in America. 55 This tracks
past growth trends: the retail and service
sector accounted for more than 83% of all
new jobs between 1989 and 1995. 56
Many jobs in the industries and occupations
with projected growth often have limited
access to fl exible work arrangements, and
have been characterized as having rigid,
unstable, and unpredictable scheduling
practices that strain working families. 57
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