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Job Growth: All Part-Time?

Part-time jobs increased while full-time jobs stagnated from Feb 2023-Feb 2024. StatsCan data reveals a concerning shift to precarious, part-time work.

Published April 29, 2024 at 5:03am by

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Misleading Claim on Part-Time Jobs

Statement: "The much-trumpeted job growth in the last year was entirely part-time jobs."

Rating: Half True.

Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed federal data distorted economic reality, citing a year-long increase in part-time jobs. From Feb. 2023 to Feb. 2024, part-time jobs rose by 921,000 vs 667,000 total jobs.

However, economists warn against cherry-picking data. Shifting the timeframe by a month reveals an additional 442,000 full-time jobs. During Biden's presidency, full-time jobs rose nearly 4x faster than part-time.

Sources:

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Twitter Post, March 31, 2024
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Employment Level, accessed April 26, 2024
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Employment - Part-Time for Noneconomic Reasons, accessed April 26, 2024
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Employment - Part-Time for Economic Reasons, accessed April 26, 2024
Email interviews with economists Gary Burtless, Brad J. Hershbein, and Lonnie Golden.