USA TODAY International Edition
LABOR FORCE PAINS
As the jobs market mends, many Americans still work part time grudgingly
One reason for the prevalence of reluctant part- timers is that workers under 25, who often want to work part time, have comprised a progressively smaller share of the labor force.
Keener Barnhorst, 24, juggles three part- time jobs — as a social media tracker, bow- tie salesman and boxoffice clerk for the San Diego Padres. He would prefer one, fulltime position.
“I just want stability,” says Barnhorst, adding that his low pay keeps him from moving out of his parents’ house more than a year after he graduated from San Diego State University.
Although the labor market is inching closer to full health by many measures, the ranks of part- time workers who prefer full- time jobs remain swollen. Their total number — 6.7 million — has dropped just 8.4% the past year and is well above the prerecession level of about 4.4 million, Labor Department figures show.
By contrast, the number of discouraged workers who have stopped looking for jobs — another gauge of labor- market pain — has fallen 20% the past year. And the nation’s unemployment rate is 5.5%, close to the 5% to 5.2% that the Federal Reserve considers normal.
Fed Chair Janet Yellen has cited the large number of socalled involuntary part- time workers as a reason to keep interest rates near zero for longer to spur more economic growth and full- time job creation. But a report last week by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco concludes that a third of the rise in involuntary part- time workers since 2006 is due to long- term changes in the labor market that may be less responsive to low interest rates.
In May, 4.2% of the labor force was made up of involuntary parttimers, the San Francisco Fed says. In May 1996 and late 2004, when unemployment was at the current level of 5.5%, the share of involuntary part- timers was just 3.2%.
One reason for the prevalence of reluctant part- timers is that workers under 25, who often want to work part time, have comprised a progressively smaller share of the labor force.
That forces employers to draw part- timers from the pool of older Americans who want full- time jobs, the study says.
Another factor is that hotels and restaurants, which employ many part- time workers, make up a bigger share of the labor market than they did before the recession and have been slow to replace part- timers with full- timers, according to the San Francis- co Fed and Royal Bank of Scotland ( RBS).
Employer preferences also have changed.
Many businesses likely have limited their hiring of full- time workers to avoid health coverage requirements under the Affordable Care Act, says RBS Chief Economist Michelle Girard.
And employers in sectors such as retail, warehousing and call centers are increasingly using software to slot in part- timers to handle peak customer demand, says Susan Lambert, a labor economist at the University of Chicago.
“That trend is not going to reverse just because the economy is getting better,” she says.
Other firms are bringing on part- time workers for projects that may not require 40 hours a week. Wilson Holding Co., of Key Biscayne, Fla., which coordinates employee training and conferences, has 11 full- time employees and seven part- timers. CEO Richard Wilson says the part- timers perform tasks such as book editing and graphic design. If he replaced them with full- time workers, each would have to handle multiple roles.
“I’m getting somebody who is specialized,” he says. Plus, he says, he saves on health care costs. Most part- time workers don’t get benefits such as health insurance or paid vacation.
Lambert, though, says evershifting part- time schedules can make it hard for workers to meet household expenses and often generate higher employee turnover.
Says Lyndsay Lujano, 31, a Kerman, Calif., cashier and bookkeeper who averages 30 hours a week: “I can’t go on vacation.”