Part time work in America is at record high numbers

More Americans are choosing to work part time positions according to the latest two months' of data from the Department of Labor. But who are the people deciding to cut down on work and what do we know about America's changing economy? Let’s find out. 

The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released its January 2024 Employment Situation report and it revealed that the interesting trend of record-high part time workers in the United States was continuing. 

In December 2023, 22 million Americans were working part time, an all-time high based on the data, and a figure that represented 13.6% of all US workers according to a report from USA Today. This dipped slightly in January. 

The December part time numbers were among the largest share in the last two decades and the highest part time worker figures have been since February 2022. However, the majority of workers weren’t doing it for the money. 

The statistics from the Department of Labor on part time workers in America are divided into two categories. First, those who work part time for economic reasons, and second, those who work part time for non-economic reasons. 

The first group included 4.4 million Americans in January and they worked between one and thirty-four hours due to unfavorable working conditions, seasonal demand, or their inability to find a full time position in the job market. 

On the other hand, non-economic part workers usually choose a reduced workload due to childcare problems or because of personal, familial, training, or schooling commitments. Some also have their potential earnings limited by Social Security. 

Many of the country’s part time workers are working for companies but a large portion of individuals are also choosing to work in the gig economy or own a business. So who are these people choosing to work part time in America?

One big portion of part time workers in the US is the country’s teenage population. 37% of all part time workers in December were teenagers between 16 and 19 with roughly 5.6 million employed in positions in several industries. 

Another big portion of part time workers according to USA Today are burnt-out individuals. Survey data from iSolved conducted in November 2023 revealed that 65% of workers suffered from burnout in the prior year and 58% were on the hunt for a new job. 

Stay-at-home parentrs are another big piece of the part time economy puzzle due to how the Covid-19 pandemic changed the nature of work in America. Lockdowns and remote work left parents to choose one spouse—often the mother according to USA Today—to stay at home with their children and work part time while the other spouse pursued full time work. 

Retires who stopped working during the pandemic have returned to the workforce, and in October 2023, a survey from T.RowePrice discovered that as many as 20% of retired individuals in the United States had returned to full time or part time work. 

Restaurant and hotel employment have also bounced back in the wake of the pandemic, though USA Today noted that figures are shy of pre-pandemic levels, it’s still a healthy sector of part time employment that has lifted part time work figures. 

Finally, those seeking healthcare make up another important block of individuals working part time positions in the country because of the Biden administration's restoration of the Affordable Care Act’s benefits that allowed workers to find affordable healthcare without a full time job. 

Dean Baker, co-founder of the Center for Economic and Policy Research explained to USA Today that the restoration of the Affordable Care Act's plans, and some added perks, had helped to push up part time working numbers in the United States. 

“In January, the unemployment rate was 3.7 percent for the third month in a row, and the number of unemployed people was little changed at 6.1 million,” The Department of Labor noted, indicating that the US job market is still doing quite well.