It goes unseen in the jobs report that Wall Street typically follows but the New York Timesreports that many workers are losing working hours. The Times says the number of workers who have lost hours or can't find full time work accounts for 3.7% of all those employed. The Times says is up from 3% a year ago.
On the surface, the job market is weak but hardly desperate. Layoffs remain less frequent than in many economic downturns, and the unemployment rate is a relatively modest 5.5 percent. But that figure masks the strains of those who are losing hours or working part time because they cannot find full-time work - a stealth force that is eroding American spending power.
All told, people the government classifies as working part time involuntarily - predominantly those who have lost hours or cannot find full-time work - swelled to 5.3 million last month, a jump of greater than 1 million over the last year.
These workers now amount to 3.7 percent of all those employed, up from 3 percent a year ago, and the highest level since 1995.
"This increase is startling," said Steve Hipple, an economist at the Labor Department.
The loss of hours has been affecting men in particular — and Hispanic men more so. Among those who were forced into part-time work from the spring of 2007 to the spring of 2008, 73 percent were men and 35 percent were Hispanic.
If someone loses hours or gets laid off and has to accept part-time work they are going to have considerably less income. Less hours worked combined with rising inflation and you have someone who is probably going to have to find a way to cut back on spending to make up for the loss in income. As this trend continues it will have a bigger and bigger impact on the economy.
