Most New Jobs Were Full-Time Jobs

REUTERS/ James Fassinger

The August nonfarm payroll report is out, and it missed analyst expectations.

According to the BLS household survey, part-time jobs fell 234,000 to 27,999,000 in August.

Full-time workers climbed by 118,000.

Part-time jobs have been the major contributor to overall job growth so far this year.

Workers are generally considered "full time" if they work 30 hours a week or more.

Some economists have signaled the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate as the reason for the trend. Under the new law, the government will require firms with over 50 employees to offer health insurance. Firms looking to cut costs have scaled back worker hours as a result, according to that line of thinking. The White House announced earlier this summer that it will not enforce the mandate until 2015.

The pattern might also be seasonal and expected, not to mention just one tiny data point in a comprehensive report on the state of the American labor force.

Update: The initial headline said that most of the new jobs were part-time, not full time.