The U.S. economy lost hundreds of thousands of full-time jobs in August in a shift that suggests the U.S. is hemorrhaging higher-paying jobs.
The country lost 438,000 full-time jobs in August, with the month’s net job growth coming entirely from gains in part-time employment, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data released Friday. The number of part-time jobs rose 527,000 in August, while the number of people who would have preferred full-time employment but were forced to settle for part-time work rose from 4.2 million to 4.8 million year-over-year.
“Employers have been shedding full-time jobs because of lackluster demand and increased uncertainty. This is a very common behavior by firms as the economy heads into recession,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, previously told the DCNF. “The Biden-Harris administration has turned the American labor market into a temp agency.”
All of the net job growth in Aug was part-time employment (+527k), while full-time jobs plummeted (-438k); we’re hemorrhaging higher-paying jobs w/ benefits and replacing them with multiple part-time ones – these higher payroll numbers are a sign of impoverishment, not growth: pic.twitter.com/w9vK0uRXOU
— E.J. Antoni, Ph.D. (@RealEJAntoni) September 6, 2024
Year-over-year, the U.S. lost 1.02 million full-time jobs while adding 1.06 million part-time jobs, BLS data shows.
The shift suggests the quality of available jobs is declining, as part-time employees typically receive lower salaries, fewer benefits and less overtime pay, according to OnTheClock.
The Biden administration touted its job creation record in a press release Friday following the release of the BLS data, remarking that “thanks to [their] work to rescue the economy, nearly 16 million new jobs have been created.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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