Low-Paying Jobs Are On The Rise
One trend that has emerged has been the rise of part-time (i.e. those working less than 35 hours per week), low-paying (i.e. those getting paid below the median wage) jobs.
"Through March, employment growth was about as fast in high-wage industries as in low-wage industries," noted UBS's Maury Harris. "But over the three months through July, low-wage industry employment has gone up at a 2.7% annual rate and high-wage industry employment only at a 1.3% annual rate—a relatively large 1.4 pct pt differential."
Some economists attribute some of this shift to Obamacare, which will eventually force companies to offer health care to full-time workers or face a penalty.
Still, it's unclear how bad this is for the economy assuming its bad at all.
"What doesn't really add up with this focus on part-time employment is what the payroll data are telling us about labour income, which is now on a discernible uptrend," said economist David Rosenberg in a note to clients last month.
For now, the trends in part-time, low-paying jobs are something economists will continue to flag and debate.
