While the headline prints in today’s jobs report were solid with the exception of hourly earnings, which disappointed consensus expectations on both a monthly and annual basis, however not too dramatically earning the report a “goldilocks” name, a look below the surface reveals at least one ugly side to today’s jobs report: all the job gains were for part-time workers, while full-time employment dipped modestly.
In June, the number of part-time workers rose by 145K to 27.028MM, while the full-time workers declined by a modest 89K to 128.658MM.
On a longer-term basis, however, this month’s jump in part-time workers appears to be an outlier, with the bulk of job additions in the past year manifesting in the form of full time jobs.
Finally, the part-time print may merely be a statistical anomaly, because on an unadjusted basis full-time workers surged by over 900K, while part-timers actually dropped by just under 500K.
Still, this is a series worth keeping an eye on as an increase in part-time workers at the expense of full-timers may explain the ongoing inability of a tight labor market to translate into higher wages, which as a reminder, was the biggest disappointment in this jobs report.
You don’t have to provide any health benefits to part-time workers (or “independent contractors”), so expect this trend to continue.