As regular readers of this blog know, I track the monthly employment data for what I can the involuntary underemployed -- those workers who are part-time for economic reasons (see previous posting). I think this is a decent proxy for how the economy is underperforming.
But, here is an interesting bit of data concerning the voluntary underemployed.
The percentage of workers who are part time for non-economic reasons has been relatively stable for a long time. It rose steadily from about 6% of the labor force in 1955 to 11% by 1969. After that it fluctuated between 11 and 12% until 1994 when it jumped to about 13% -- mostly because of measurement changes. And then it was basically flat at around 13% until the early part of 2007. Since March 2007, it has steadily declined -- to 11.7% in March 2010.
So why would the percentage of voluntary part time workers, which had been steady for almost 30 years, begin to decline? One obvious answer is the Great Recession - as people dropped out of the labor force because competition for part time jobs increased. As the charts below shows, the total number of part time jobs (voluntary and involuntary) and the percentage of labor force in part time jobs both spiked in the Great Recession. So as former full time workers flooded into the part time job market, those who were only interested in part time work (such as collage students) dropped out completely. Not a good sign of a health economy.
But, here is an interesting bit of data concerning the voluntary underemployed.
The percentage of workers who are part time for non-economic reasons has been relatively stable for a long time. It rose steadily from about 6% of the labor force in 1955 to 11% by 1969. After that it fluctuated between 11 and 12% until 1994 when it jumped to about 13% -- mostly because of measurement changes. And then it was basically flat at around 13% until the early part of 2007. Since March 2007, it has steadily declined -- to 11.7% in March 2010.
So why would the percentage of voluntary part time workers, which had been steady for almost 30 years, begin to decline? One obvious answer is the Great Recession - as people dropped out of the labor force because competition for part time jobs increased. As the charts below shows, the total number of part time jobs (voluntary and involuntary) and the percentage of labor force in part time jobs both spiked in the Great Recession. So as former full time workers flooded into the part time job market, those who were only interested in part time work (such as collage students) dropped out completely. Not a good sign of a health economy.
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