Part Time Employment Now Up For the Holidays

The holiday season is just around, and so part time employment is up for the holidays especially in the area of retail and transportation. In the aftermath of the most devastating recession since the second world war, most retailers have bumped up their hiring slightly, while the package delivery companies, which had so much trouble last year with the flood of last-minute online shopping, are hiring about twice as many people as last year. Nationally, big chains are calling for huge numbers of employees, and many are for temporary jobs for the season. Read more here:

’Tis the season for spending money on Halloween stores, fruit farms, pumpkin patches, landscaping, or lawn care. However, it won’t be long before the consumer focus switches to Christmas tree farms or Harry & David gift baskets. Such is the nature of seasonal businesses. They come and go in a hurry, based on holidays, weather, or customer preference. The seasonal businesses provide temporary employment for thousands of Licking County residents at various times throughout the year, but more seasonal jobs are available in the fall than any other time. Read more here

An excerpt from the article: The Workforce Part-Time Employment Ratio: Looking Better for the Core Age Group, gives some analysis:

In July 2012 and again in August 2013 the full-time/part-time gap narrowed, and it was yet narrower this summer. Even more encouraging is that fact that the bounce in part-time employment last month was the smallest September increase in this history of this BLS data series, which dates back to 1986.

Obamacare and Part-Time Employment
Over the past two years many have speculated that the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has played a role in company decisions about full-time versus part-time employment. The $2,000 per employee penalty for companies that do not comply with regulations has influenced some to rethink their employment policies. In July 2013 the government pushed the start of the penalty from January 2014 to January 2015. But the anticipation of the penalty, even though delayed a year, may influence the decisions of private employers.

Read more: