Reasons for working part time. Persons who work part time do so either for noneconomic reasons (that is, because of personal constraints or preferences) or for economic reasons (that is, because of business-related constraints such as slack work or the lack of full-time opportunities). Because respondents typically are not familiar with this distinction, the question was reworded to provide examples of the two types of reasons. More importantly, the measurement of working part time involuntarily (or for economic reasons) was modified to better reflect the concept. Starting in 1994, workers who usually work part time and are working part time involuntarily must want and be available for full-time work.

And even after all that juggling to make our numbers appear more impressive (in the chart on the linked page, notice the precipitous drop in 1994 when the effected these changes), we now have more part-time laborers who need/want more work than at any time in the last 50 years.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 22nd, 2008 at 10:01.