Part-Time Jobs Were 185% of the New Jobs Created in June

By Rich Miner

That’s right.  Of the 195,000 new jobs created in June, 360,000 were part-time.  Full-time jobs actually shrank by 240,000.  These numbers were abysmal.  However, the White House, the media and Wall Street pundits extolled the jobs numbers as being solid, a very good report and a sign that the economy was improving to the point that the Federal Reserve would be able to begin to taper its monthly purchase of $85 billion in bonds and treasuries.   But a more careful look at the jobs numbers would show that the total payroll number was 135.9 million jobs, or still 1.6% below where they were 5-1/2 years ago before the recession started.  To make matters worse, the labor force has been increasing by about 120,000 a month during all those years.  So far in 2013 only 130,000 new full-time jobs have been added.  The remaining 557,000 of the alleged ‘solid’ jobs increase have been part time.  “Great Jobs News For Part-Timers,” Investor’s Business Daily, 7/8/13, p. A18.

According to Ray Stone, Managing Director of Stone & McCarthy Research, in the first quarter many of the new jobs were in manufacturing and construction, but in the second quarter most of the new jobs have been in retail, leisure and entertainment and have been largely part time.  He said the composition of the jobs growth was very disappointing.

There are many reasons for the number of full-time jobs being replaced by part-time jobs, such as uncertainty about the economy, new Government regulations, bureaucratic overreaching, Obama’s endless Executive Orders, but the biggest reason is ObamaCare.   Employers can avoid the penalty of not providing ObamaCare to part-time workers if they keep their hours at less than 30 a week.  In addition, many employers, who may very well be providing health insurance under current law, may not want to incur the higher cost of providing ObamaCare and can avoid doing so by cutting their employees to part time.   Providing shifts of part-time workers is less difficult for low-skill jobs, such as in the fast food industry.

For example, Charles Payne reported on “Fox and Friends” on 7/5/13, that Clarence Otis, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Darden Restaurants, which operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden and other restaurants, said that ObamaCare would cause him to redefine work and move people from 40 hours to 29 hours.  These are people with minimum skills, who are trying to work their way into the work force and gain skills as they go, and ObamaCare will force them to take a big hit.

Furthermore, according to “Fox and Friends Saturday,” 7/6/13, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the real unemployment rate known as U6 actually increased from 13.8% in May to 14.3% in June.  U6 takes into consideration part-timers who want full-time work, employees who are overqualified for the job and discouraged workers who have quit looking for work.  In addition, according to Tucker Carlson only 47% of Americans have full-time jobs.  Id.  That means that approximately 12% of the civilian population is working part time.  See, BLS Employment Summary Table A., 7/5/13.

McKinsey & Co. reported that 45% of college graduates today have jobs that don’t require college degrees.  “Great Job News For Part-Timers,” Id.  Often the first full-time job can set the pace for the person’s entire career, and now their educations are being wasted waiting tables.  Young people are being hit very hard with an unemployment rate of 16.1% among 18- to 29-year-olds, plus 1.7 million who have dropped out of the work force.  Id.

It is clear that Obama’s policies of trillions of dollars in pork-laden spending and the Fed’s policies of endless “Quantitative Easing” have not been much help to the employment picture and the economy.  Besides, these policies have had negative effects, such as unsustainable debt and a Fed balance sheet that has ballooned out of control.  That balance sheet must be unwound and may burst in the process.  In addition, Obama’s higher taxes, his constant demands for more taxes on job creators, his excessive regulations, his unconstitutional executive orders, his class warfare and his attacks on the free market system have all made employers afraid to hire new employees.  But the greatest cause of this horrible jobs report is ObamaCare.  This 2,700 page incomprehensible legislation, with countless pages of regulation that are constantly growing at the dictates of Kathleen Sebelius, encouraged employers to hire primarily part-time workers and to cut full-time workers back to 29 hours a week.