Working for Peanuts: Food Insecurity among Nonstandard Workers' Households

Alisha J. Coleman, Pennsylvania State University

Nonstandard work affects household functioning in many ways, but the relationship between nonstandard work and food insecurity has not been explored. Utilizing the 2003 and 2004 Food Security Supplements to the Current Population Survey I investigate the effects of household head’s work form (by combining number of hours worked with multiple job holding) on household food security status. I find that households where the head is employed in multiple jobs, with varied hours or part-time work are more likely to be food insecure than households with a head in a regular full-time job even when controlling for income and other sociodemographic characteristics. Because the odds of food insecurity vary across household types, models will be estimated separately for married, cohabiting, female headed and male headed households. The lack of benefits, instability of income and unstable schedules associated with nonstandard employment may account for the greater odds of food insecurity.