There’s an interesting dynamic beginning to show itself in the marketplace. Full-time workers listed on job sites are flat from January 2022 until May of this year. On the other hand, job postings online for part-time workers have increased by 10% over the same period.
What’s going on? Understand that we’re dealing with percentages, and full-time work is still the most common type of work by far, but the trend is interesting. What are some of the factors that are common or driving this trend? Here are a few: The increase in part-time jobs is wide ranging and applies to most industry sectors. Some employers are creating multiple part-time jobs in place of full-time jobs.
Employers are trying to accommodate the competitive market for workers. On the other hand: Workers are looking for more flexibility in their work schedules. Workers prefer work-from-home schedules and may opt for part-time opportunities.
Workers with skills in demand want the flexibility in hours to accommodate school schedules, child care or work-life balance, to name a few. According to the hiring data from the Labor Department, part-time employment was up almost 9% from January 2022 to May 2024, with full-time hiring up only 1.5% for the same time period.
In addition, the unemployment rate slowly edged up to 4% in May. In March of 2022 there were 12.2 million job openings.
In April of this year, the number of job openings was 8.1 million. According to Indeed.
com, a large job posting website, the indus.