One Third of Part-Time Workers Are Struggling to Find Full-Time Work

One Third of Part-Time Workers Are Struggling to Find Full-Time Work


A nationwide survey was conducted by CareerBuilder online, which took samples from 301 U.S. part-time workers across various industries and organizations from Aug. 11 to Sept. 5, 2013. The significant findings of the study showed that although permanent full-time hiring may be boosting, there are still many part-time workers who are struggling to land a full-time job. Thankfully, permanent employment is slowly getting back to the level of where it was before the recession. However, this still isn’t helping part-time workers acquire full-time work. 32% of part-time workers want to work full time, but haven’t been able to obtain a full-time job. Of those, 31% are the sole breadwinner of their household and 39% claim to currently be struggling to make ends meet. 25% of part-time workers who want a full-time job are currently juggling two or more jobs.

The reasons for the representatives not being able to land a full time job include the beliefs that there aren’t as many jobs available in one’s field as there were pre-recession (54%), they don’t obtain the skills necessary for the in-demand jobs (51%), they haven’t been able to look for a full-time job on a regular basis (31%), or they do not meet the education requirements (29%). 62% of these part-time workers said they would be willing to work without pay for a company for a durable amount of time in order to show the value they can bring as a full-time employee.

Vice President of Human Resources at CareerBuilder Rosemay Haefner said, “Though we’re seeing an uptick in full-time, permanent hiring, many workers are still having difficulty finding positions in their field of expertise. For some, a part-time job is just a means to a paycheck; for others, it’s a preferred work arrangement or stepping stone. ”

There are financial and physical tolls on part-time workers who are desperately seeking full-time jobs. When asked to choose from a list of experiences as a result, 31% of part-time workers downgraded to save money, 29% had to ask to borrow money from friends or a family member, 23% have suffered from depression, 22% had to move in with their parents, 17% went into high credit card debt, and 14% have experienced other health issues.

Part-time jobs do have a certain appeal. The six key reasons for these workers decided to work part-time to begin with include they needed a paycheck (47%), they want to work part-time (43%), they enjoy the flexibility of having a part-time job (36%), they are working this job while attending school (22%), they are working part-time while taking care of their family (16%), or they want to gain experience in their given field (5%). 37% of part-time workers receive benefits from their current employers, and one in ten (9%) enjoy the same benefits as being a full-time employee.


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