Part-Time employment: Reasons, demographics, and trends

Abstract

worked part time, that is, less than 35 hours a week. This group has been studied frequently as concern over changes in the quality of jobs has grown. Several reports have asserted that an increasing share of the U.S. work force has become part time, because employers have used such employment to cut labor costs. The reports suggested that, as employers offered more part-time jobs than employees were willing to accept, the number of involuntary part-time employees, those who want full-time jobs but must settle for part-time work, increased dramatically, l Certainly, a rise in involuntary part-time employment should cause concern, since it represents an underutilization of the nation's labor resources similar to unemployment. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the vast majority of persons who work part time (71 percent) still do so voluntarily. I examine the differences between the voluntary and involuntary part-time employees. The data show that part-time employees can be classified in three distinct groups, based on their reasons for working a part-time schedule and their usual weekly work schedule. These groups differ in a number of ways, including the characteristics typical of the people in them, the industries in which they are found, and their pattern of growth over the last two decades. I also examine some new data on part-time employment available from the revised Current Population Survey (CPS) which began in January 1994. This revised survey should expand and improve the information about part-time employment. Before examining the data, the source of the information and the basic concepts and definitions relating to part-time work are described.