mybudget360.com / By mybudget360 / February 22, 2013
The rise of part-time employment in the United States is part of the low wage system that is spreading throughout the country. Part-time workers are cheaper to hire and easier to fire. You also avoid paying benefits from a healthcare system that is seeing skyrocketing costs. Prior to the economic crisis, the number of Americans working “part-time for economic reasons” was roughly at 4 million. Today, in this supposed recovery it is up to 8 million. While the stock market is taking off many companies have figured out that it is cheaper to have a large number of at-will workers instead of bringing on full-time employees and providing additional costs. As we have discussed, the recession has been used as a cover to slash middle class wages and inflate profits that have filtered to a very small portion of our population. Part of this problem is structural and we are seeing the impact of higher healthcare costs hitting the employment market.
Part-time America
The number of Americans working part-time is still near a peak level:
The recession caused this figure to jump by over 100 percent and it has largely not fallen back down. Combine this with the vast number of Americans on food stamps, over 47 million and you start seeing the growing ranks of the permanent poor. These changes of course are hitting many lower wage service sector workers:
“(WSJ) Some low-wage employers are moving toward hiring part-time workers instead of full-time ones to mitigate the health-care overhaul’s requirement that large companies provide health insurance for full-time workers or pay a fee.”
