Part-Timers Often Lack ‘Safety Net’ Study Highlights Disparities Between Classes Of Workers

Part-time workers earn lower hourly wages and are far less likely to have health insurance, pension coverage, paid vacations and other “safety net” job protections than full-time employees, a new AFL-CIO report says.

About 21 million workers - nearly 18 percent of the U.S. work force - report that their primary job is a parttime position, according to “Part-Time Work, Full-Time Bills: The Problems of Part-Time Employment.”

The report was released this month in connection with a union-organizing effort of about 5,000 part-time workers at Disney World.

Some of the differences detailed in the report:

Wages: Part-timers earned an average $9.74 an hour in 1995, compared with an average $13.75 an hour for full-timers.

Health insurance: One in five part-timers had employer-provided health insurance in 1997, compared with more than two out of three full-timers.

In addition, part-timers are nearly twice as likely as full-timers to have no health insurance at all.

Pensions: One in five female part-timers and about one in 10 male part-timers had employer-provided pensions in 1997, compared with more than 57 percent of full-timers.

Also, part-timers are one-third as likely as full-timers to have pension coverage through any source.

Vacations: In companies with 100 or more employees, 50 percent of part-timers get paid vacations, compared with 96 percent of full-timers. The difference is greater in smaller companies, where 31 percent of parttimers earn paid vacations, compared with 88 percent of full-timers.

The report also said most part-timers are excluded from several federal and state worker-protection laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Leave under the act, for example, extends only to workers who have worked 1,250 or more hours for their employer in the preceding 12 months.

The act also applies only to employers of 50 or more. That excludes protection for part-time workers at 39 percent of all businesses, the report said.

Among other laws, the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act excludes part-timers from the requirement that employees be given plant-closing notices. And the Employee Retirement and Income Security Act applies only to workers with at least 1,000 hours of service in the year.