Here Comes Part-Time Jobs...

REUTERSThe October jobs report is about to be released.

In addition to the overall jobs number everyone loves to guess, we'll also be looking at the share of new jobs that are part-time jobs, according to the BLS' household survey.

People often point this figure as a sign of how healthy job growth is. Last month, most new jobs were full-time and part-time jobs fell.

Workers are considered "part time" if they work under 35 hours per week.

Earlier this year when we were seeing a so-called "shift" from full-time job growth to part-time job growth, some argued that the trend was due to the employer mandate in the Affordable Care Act.

Under Obamacare, employers with over 50 employees will have to offer health insurance or face penalties (though the mandate has been delayed until 2015). But as a result, some speculated that companies would reduce their full-time staff to below the 50-person threshold or simply scale back hours.

But as we pointed out last jobs report (via the Wall Street Journal's Ben Casselman), part-time workers as a share of total workers has actually gone down.