Taking the employees' perspective seriously: An initial United Kingdom cross-sectoral comparison

This article describes how the largest labor market survey in the United Ki ngdom has been used to compare employment in the third sector with other se ctors. This is based on employees' own internal definition of their employe rs' sector, an approach that it is argued can usefully supplement the domin ant external approach. The dimensions along which the (self-defined) third sector emerges as distinctive include its rather small absolute size, its r elatively high concentration of part-time and temporary staff, the greater proportion of its workers who work unpaid overtime, the relatively high pro portion of employees who are women, the tendency for its respondents to hav e high levels of educational qualifications, and its distinctive compositio n. At least some of these features seem to be shared with the third sector in other developed countries, although it is very difficult to be confident in these comparisons for the reasons discussed in the article.