Most Of The New Jobs Were Part-Time

[brentspeak]

As the CNN report below the initial article demonstrates, the shift from secure full-time permanent jobs to insecure part-time temporary work has been the hallmark of the Bush/Obama era - and this trend is accelerating.

http://www.businessinsider.com/part-time-jump-in-july-2013-8

Most Of The New Jobs Were Part-Time
Steven Perlberg Aug. 2, 2013, 8:36 AM

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' household survey, part-time jobs jumped by 174,000 to 28,233,000 in July.

Full-time workers climbed by 92,000.

Full-time workers are down from the May jobs report while part-time workers are up for the same time period.

Workers are generally considered to be "full time" if they work over 30 hours per week.

Some economists have speculated the shift from full time to part time [link:http://www.businessinsider.com/ubs-obamacare-delay-brings-uncertainty-2013-7derives from the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act]. Under the legislation, employers will be required to offer health insurance or face penalties (though the White House will delay enforcement until 2015). As a result, many companies have threatened to reduce full-time staff to below the 50-employee threshold for the mandate or scale back hours.

But the effect of the employer on today's part-time figures remains unclear. In fact, some economists were more optimistic when part-time workers surged last month, arguing that the ratio of part-time to full-time was seasonal and expected.

CNN Business' report on this issue is sobering. Check out the reader comments, too:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/08/01/news/economy/temp-jobs/

Want a job? Good luck finding full-time work
By Tami Luhby @Luhby August 1, 2013: 12:49 PM ET

More people are landing jobs these days, but they are often part-time or temp work.

The number of Americans finding part-time jobs has surged this year, with more than four times as many getting only part-time work as opposed to full-time jobs, according to Labor Department data. That's the opposite of what happened last year, when full-time hires far outstripped part-time ones.

At the same time, the ranks of temps has exploded: A record 2.7 million people held these positions in June, up from 2.5 million a year ago. It will be very interesting to see if this continued in July. The government will report the latest figures about the job market on Friday.
While companies have been beefing up their temporary and part-time payrolls in recent years, the trend has accelerated in 2013, with an especially large jump in part-time hiring in June.

There has been much speculation -- and some anecdotal evidence -- that employers are trying to keep their headcount down so they aren't subject to Obamacare rules. But economic uncertainty and a lack of consumer demand are still the predominant reasons why employers are shying away from hiring full-time workers, experts said.