San Francisco Chronicle (January 10)
“As the omicron variant once again scrambles well-laid plans, possibly killing the return-to-office date altogether,” millions of workers hope they will “never have to work in an office full time again.” The initial response to COVID may have appeared confined to “a niche, tech-world revolution,” but this has “spread to nearly every sort of job where remote work is possible,” close to 50% of the U.S. workforce.
Tags: Covid, Full-time, Office, Omicron, Plans, Remote, Return, Revolution, Scrambles, Tech-world, U.S., Variant, Workers
Time (August 23)
It is shocking “that more than 65% of Japanese medical doctors who responded to a survey said reducing the entrance exam scores for women is unavoidable, since the extreme working hours make it impossible for female doctors to work full time while taking care of their children. Japanese society still sees household chores and childcare as the main responsibility of women, whether or not they are in paid employment.”
Tags: Children, Doctors, Employment, Exam, Full-time, Household, Japan, Scores, Survey, Women, Working hours
Wall Street Journal (July 14)
Upbeat U.S. employment figures belie the fact that full-time jobs actually fell by 523,000 in June. “Way too many adults now depend on the low-wage, part-time jobs that teenagers would normally fill. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen had it right in March when she said: ‘The existence of such a large pool of partly unemployed workers is a sign that labor conditions are worse than indicated by the unemployment rate.’” Stripping the nearly 800,000 new part-time jobs out from the employment figures removes the feel-good factor and reveals “why the June numbers are so distressing.”
Wall Street Journal (March 2)
“The fundamental economic issue facing America” is not headline-grabbing income inequality, but rather “jobs—their scarcity and the quality of those that people manage to find.” When the marginally employed are included, the real unemployment rate is closer to 13% and part-time jobs now account for 18% of the workforce. “Job losses in the low-wage and minimum-wage category is the critical issue of our day: Too many of the poor are not working full time or at all.”
Tags: Full-time, Income inequality, Job losses, Jobs, Minimum wage, Poor, Quality, Scarcity, U.S., Unemployment, Wages, Work, Workforce
Washington Post (July 10)
“Is the full-time American job going the way of the dodo? The signs aren’t exactly heartening.” Part-time work has been rising, working hours declining and low-wage work increasing as part of an ongoing, long-term trend. The use of temporary workers through staffing agencies has also increased. “Left to its own devices, the American economy is eroding the American job. Hours decline, dragging take-home pay down with them.”
Tags: Economy, Employment, Full-time, Job, Part-time, Pay, Staffing agencies, Temporary workers, U.S., Wages, Working hours
