Part-Time Nation

This week’s chart shows the share of part-time versus full-time job gains since December 2012. Data from the most recent monthly survey of households from the Department of Labor show that the economy added 288,000 full-time jobs since last December. While this full-time jobs number might seem like a lot, it pales in comparison to the 692,000 part-time job gains during this time.

 The data indicate that more than 70 percent of the increase in the household measure of employment was accounted for by Americans working part-time.

Data Note: The December 2012 jobs data do not reflect adjustments that take into account changes in population. When you compare the share of part-time versus full-time job gains since January 2013 for data adjusted to reflect updated population estimates, new part-time jobs amount to 97.7 percent of total new jobs. Data for part-time jobs can be found in BLS Table A-8, and data for total employment in BLS Table A-1.