77% of Jobs Created in 2013 are Part Time

This is the kind of thing that gives you a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when the full import of this stat sinks in. Of all the rotten statistics coming out of these dreary jobs reports, month after month, it is the realization that the face of work in America is radically changing right before our eyes — to the detriment of young and old alike.

Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge:

When the payroll report was released last month, the world finally noticed what we had been saying for nearly three years: that the US was slowly being converted to a part-time worker society. This slow conversion accelerated drastically in the last few months, and especially in June, when part time jobs exploded higher by 360K while full time jobs dropped by 240K. In July we are sad to report that America’s conversation to a part-time worker society is not “tapering”: according to the Household Survey, of the 266K jobs created (note this number differs from the establishment survey), only 35% of jobs, or 92K, were full time. The rest were… not.

The raw numbers are grotesque:

— In July, there were 176,000 part time jobs created while only 92,000 full time jobs.

— Of the 953,000 jobs “created” so far in 2013, only 23%, or 222,000, were full-time. 731,000 were part time.

— 8.5 million workers are working part-time despite wanting full time employment. That number is unchanged from last month.

— The average hourly workweek slipped to 34.7 hours. 35 hours is considered full time.

The Obamacare effect is just starting to be felt in employment. With the cutting of weekly hours to bring workers under the Obamacare minimum of 30, it’s not impossible to imagine that this is a trend that will only accelerate next year and end up being the norm for the US workforce for the foreseeable future.

We are going to be a poorer nation because of Obamacare. And that may be the most lasting legacy of the presidency of Barack Obama.

The president should be far more concerned about the gap between those who have full time and those who have part time jobs than any manufactured “moral” controversy over income inequality.