Part-Time Work Statistics

📢 Job growth is slowing in both childcare and eldercare, resulting in higher prices and more workforce disruptions. 🔹 Excluding April, the home healthcare sector has gained an average of 5,000 jobs each month since February; that is compared to an average monthly gain of 13,500 jobs in 2024. Demand has surged for home healthcare due to aging demographics and more adults seeking to age in place; it has not suddenly dropped in recent months. 🔹 Prices for daycare and preschool rose by 5.5% compared to a year ago. That is more than two times the pace of overall inflation at 2.7%. Some good news for parents: momentum has slowed down over the past several months. On a three-month annualized basis, prices rose 2.4% in June. That is down from 5.5% in March. 🔹 There were uneven effects from tariffs on children’s items in June. Infants’ furniture and toys were more expensive; boys’ apparel, girls’ apparel and boys’ and girls’ footwear fell in price. Tariffs have yet to be fully felt throughout the economy. Businesses are still drawing down existing inventories imported before tariffs went into effect. We forecast a peak effective tariff rate of around 20% in the fourth quarter of this year. That is compared to the 2.9% rate in the first quarter. A sharp and sudden tax increase of that magnitude is expected to hit margins and demand as well as increase inflation in the months ahead. 🔹 1.2 million workers worked part-time due to childcare problems in June. These are workers the BLS categorizes as “voluntary” part-time workers. However, for those without access to quality and affordable childcare, to what extent is it voluntary? 87% of these workers were women, nearly all between 25-54 years old; that is during prime working years. An additional 153,000 people were not in the labor force and wanted a job but could not work due to childcare problems. 97% of these people were women. Labor shortages in both childcare and eldercare are clashing with elevated demand, resulting in higher prices. That is leading to more workers working part-time, missing work entirely or not being able to work. That stresses workers and their families, employers and the US economy in general. Curbs to immigration are expected to exacerbate supply side shortages in both childcare and eldercare in the months ahead.

March 2024 Employment Situation Many commentators are opining on today's "blow-out" jobs report, which came in at 303,000 far above expectations for about 200,000 new jobs. But a closer look at the report reveals some very "interesting" statistics. Most commentators don't bother to look at Household Survey Table A9, which provides information on "multiple jobs holders. In February, this number was 8.259 million but that rose to 8.476 million in March--an increase of 217,000 workers holding more than one job. Why is this important? Because the "blow-out" jobs number comes from the Establishment Survey, which cannot identify workers holding multiple jobs. These workers get "double-counted" if they work at different employers, which most undoubtedly do. Backing out these 217,000 jobs would leave us with an increase of only 86,000 jobs. (But these are two separate surveys so such calculations are speculative.) Also shown in Table A-9 is the number of part-time workers, which jumped from 27,941 to 28,632--a staggering increase of 691,000 part-time jobs. The number of full-time workers also appear in Table A-9. This number actually declined from 132,946 to 132,940. So, perhaps today's "blow-out" jobs number is not such a "blow-out," after all. You can download the current and previous BLS reports at: https://lnkd.in/e_GxGbYW

Part-time employment is on the rise, with new data showing it has increased by 63.4% in Australia since 2006. Analysis of 15 years of census data by software company Reckon found 30.8% of Australian employees were in part-time roles. "Men have driven the largest increase (32.1%) in part-time employment, despite twice as many women working part-time. Now, one-fifth (21.4%) of men in the workforce pursue part-time work," Reckon Head of People and Culture Jessica Morris wrote on LinkedIn. The research found Byron Bay was Australia's part-time work hotspot, with nearly half of employees choosing that kind of arrangement. Writing on LinkedIn, workplace expert Professor Gary Martin said while workers and employers were more open to part-time work, there were challenges around role expectations and career growth.  "Among the biggest complaints from part-time workers is that they are expected to handle a similar or even the same workload as full-time employees, despite working fewer hours," he said. "Part-time work can also impact career progression, as some employers might view part-time employees as less committed or capable of handling higher-level responsibilities." Would you consider part-time work? How can workplaces improve access to part-time employment for their staff while ensuring continual career progression? Share your thoughts in the comments below. By Brendan Wong Photo: Getty Images Sources:  Jessica Morris: https://lnkd.in/gJh4eDdi Professor Gary Martin: https://lnkd.in/gpNQHttS

The September Jobs Report Isn't As Good As It Looks 🚩4.1 million people are employed part time. These individuals want full-time employment, but were working part time because their hours had been reduced or they were unable to find full-time jobs. 🚩There were 26.7 million Americans working part-time jobs in September 2023, and 7.8 million multiple jobholders. 🚩Meanwhile, employment in white-collar professional, scientific, and technical services jobs increased by only 29,000. 🚩White-collar, college-educated professionals are having a harder time finding a new job and are facing greater job insecurity than blue-collar workers.