Underemployment in a Temporal and Spatial Perspective: Overqualification and Involuntary Part-Time Work since the 1960s

Justin R. Young, University of New Hampshire
Marybeth J. Mattingly, University of New Hampshire

Underemployment has gained less attention in recent years than other economic indicators, despite the fact that one primary measure of this phenomenon—involuntary part-time work—doubled during the Great Recession (Sum and Khatiwada 2010). Using data from the Current Population Survey (1962-2012), we examine how underemployment (in the forms of involuntary part-time work and over-qualification) has changed over time, with particular attention paid to differences among various recessions across the rural-urban divide. We start with a descriptive analysis and then use logistic regression models to analyze whether factors associated with underemployment, including education, race, age and sex, have changed in recent decades among rural and urban workers. Preliminary results indicate that involuntary part-time employment increases during recessions, but does not decline to pre-recession levels, thus there has been a dramatic increase in this type of underemployment over time. Additionally, we find that the ‘07-‘09 recession had little effect on over-qualification rates.