Part-Time Work

Part-time work, defined as less than 35 hours a week, creates an enigma. Because of competing demands, there are millions of workers who seek part-time work and cannot find it in a package that does not penalize them relative to full-time workers. Yet, part-time work does not satisfy the income or employment needs of workers who want part-time work. Most part-time jobs, whether voluntary or not, end up as second-class jobs. Those who reduce their work time are devalued in the workplace, for example, through reduction in workplace responsibility, title change, or a change in job to one with less prestige. Workers often suffer omissions to outdated policies that encourage neither the creation of quality part-time employment nor long-term family economic security.

Whether part-time jobs are good jobs impacts a large segment of America's working population. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), over 19 percent of the workforce works part-time. However, among those not counted as part-time workers are the 5.2 percent of the workforce who hold multiple jobs, a great majority of whom hold part-time jobs. Women represent a quarter of part-time workers, and low-wage workers make up the majority of the part-time workforce, earning $3.97 less per hour than regular full-time workers.

There are great inequities between part- and full-time work that contribute to part-time work discrimination, resulting in workplaces that often deny part-time workers basic employment rights and protections afforded their full-time colleagues. For example, only 29 percent of part-timers obtain unemployment benefits, compared to half of all full-time workers; only 38 percent of employers provide health insurance benefits to part-time employees; and part-time workers have more difficulty qualifying for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Part-time workers face disparities impacting them into retirement. For example, they have the lowest access to employer-sponsored retirement plans; pension plans are permitted to exclude workers who work less than 1,000 hours per year, accounting for 22 percent of all women and 15 percent of all men who are not covered by pensions; and part-time workers are less likely to meet the requirements for Social Security retirement and disability benefits.

Despite the consequences, workers choose part-time jobs for various reasons, most notably the need to balance work and family demands. Parents of young children, older workers nearing retirement, full-time students, and others want part-time work but do not have access to that flexibility. Research suggests that more readily available part-time options would benefit workers [Page 678]and, importantly, workers would seek part-time arrangements if they came with the right set of benefits. The National Study of the Changing Workforce found that among full-time employees, nearly 20 percent would prefer to be working part-time. When asked why they do not work part-time, 70 percent indicated they could not afford to do so, and 44 percent said they would not be allowed to by their employers. As women typically hold responsibility for family care, it is not surprising that they make up the majority of the part-time workforce. As more and more workers find themselves in the role of caregiver, work-related adjustments to provide such care becomes a necessity. Adult children are increasingly adding elder care to the list of daily tasks as a consequence of increased longevity; adult children can spend more years caring for an elderly relative than for a child. Estimates show family members provide 75 to 80 percent of long-term home and community-based care for the elderly. The part-time work discrimination born out of caregiving affects a disproportionate number of women relegated to a retirement of poverty, as they often interrupt their careers to care for family members, work fewer years, and contribute less toward their retirement.

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