Many new jobs are part time, low wage

Job growth in recent months has skewed toward part-time work in low-wage industries, and that trend continued in July, Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show.

Retailers led job gains with 47,000, and restaurants and bars added 38,000. All told, four low-paying sectors — retail, restaurants, temporary staffing firms and home health care — accounted for 60% of the jobs added in July, though they make up just 22% of total employment, according to an analysis by Wells Fargo. So far this year, the four sectors have accounted for 45% of the nation’s 1.3 million payroll additions.

“A large portion of the jobs we’re adding tend to be in low-skill occupations,” says Wells Fargo senior economist Mark Vitner.

The trend appears to have improved the job prospects of less educated Americans. Employment for high school graduates increased by nearly 400,000 in July, while payrolls for those with at least a four-year college degree fell by 256,000.

Many of the new jobs, however, are part-time, especially in stores and restaurants. The number of Americans who usually work part-time jumped 174,000 last month, but totals for those who usually work full-time rose by just 92,000. Since March, the ranks of part-timers have swelled by 791,000 vs. 187,000 for full-timers.

The very FIRST thing I noticed when I saw the labor report was the high percentage of created jobs in the retail/restaurant/bar industries. You can guarantee most of these are part-time, low paying jobs.

The article cites the 30-hours worked threshold of Obamacare as a possible reason for the spike in part time hiring. They do note that particular part of the mandate was recently pushed back a year to 2015.

Personally I think it has less to do with Obamacare and more to do with the reality of the American economy.

Businesses are hiring part-time, low wage not only because that’s where the needs are (due to these being high turnover positions in most cases) but also because it’s a cost saving measure.

If you hire part-time/temp/contract that means that you, as an employer are NOT responsible for providing any benefits, vacation time, sick time, etc. to these workers like you would with full time hires.

I know a number of people who don’t have a full time job but work between 35 and 55 hours weekly at TWO part time jobs to make ends meet. The problem is that two part times jobs will still not fully supplement what a single full time job will. You can work as many part time gigs as you want, but none of them will likely offer any kind of benefits.

The sick part of all of this is many major corporations are sitting, just sitting on BILLIONS of dollars in cash reserves and they still want more, more, MORE at the expense of their employees which, in a well run business, should be the most vital part of the company.

150 000 new retail jobs a month is NOT a recovery folks. I’m not blaming Obama for this one, I’m blaming an increasingly partisan, plutocratic, do-nothing ruling class that is crushing those lower on the ladder all while pretending to care about them.