Are we seeing a convenient confluence of moms wanting to work less with a surge in part-time jobs?
Headlines continue to remind us of the surge in part-time employment.
Part-Time Work On The Rise, But Is That A Good Thing? — NPR
The Rise of Part-Time Work — New York Times
Most Of The New Jobs Were Part-Time — Business Insider
Who Can Deny It? Obamacare Is Accelerating U.S. Towards A Part-Time Nation — Forbes
And then we have this: ‘Many Working Moms Want To Work Less’
According to a recent Pew poll, 67% of all mothers would ideally forego full-time work in favor of working part-time (47%) or not at all (20%). By contrast, only 25% of fathers would choose part-time work (15%) or not to work (10%). Among all women who describe themselves as “financially comfortable,” only 31% would ideally work full-time and another 34% wouldn’t work at all. And among married mothers, only 23 percent would ideally like to work full-time. These are large percentages of different types of women who would choose family or personal priorities over full-time employment.
Current labor statistics bear out these fantasies: women are twice as likely as men to work part-time even though they are also more likely to be college-educated and thus more marketable.
Of course, part-time employment does not work as a solution for everyone.
It’s true that the trend toward part-time, benefit-free employment can be financially ruinous to individual workers. One fifth of the country’s jobs are part-time, and many are low-skilled, dead end positions. But it’s easy to overlook how unrewarding full-time employment can be for many people, too – especially when the researchers and reporters and pundits who write about workforce trends tend to have fascinating, flexible jobs with decent pay.
Moms who want to cut down their working hours may look more attractive to employers.
I just wonder if there may be a glimmer of hope for mothers wanting to downsize their work week, but who have not been able to find suitable part-time opportunities. The new economics of employing part-time workers creates an environment that dissolves some of the old arguments used to defend policies requiring every staff member to put in 40+ hours per week. Now the parent who wants to spend less time at the office and more time at home may be a more attractive job candidate.
Related: Long hours may explain why educated women quit the workforce – ‘the time divide’ (Cost of College)
