How Many Hours Of Work Is Considered Part Time

Related to assurance of parity in pay benefits are policies that set minimum and maximum work hours that jobs must offer. Some countries require that part-time workers get a minimum of work hours. In Algeria, part-timers must receive not less than half of the statutory working time. Denmark allows collective agreements to prescribe a minimum of 15 hours per week for part-time work.

France provides a minimum target of 24 hours per week for part-time workers. Some countries also have maximum thresholds for part-timers—such as not to exceed 30 hours per week or 120 hours per month—which may prevent "involuntary full-time" working, i.e., unwelcome additional hours. Overtime is sometimes outright prohibited for part-time workers , or allowed only in emergency cases . In South Korea it is allowed but requires the agreement of the part-time worker, cannot exceed 12 extra hours per week, and comes with a pay premium for work beyond the normal work hours of full-time employees. Finally, some laws aim to facilitate the transfer from full-time to part-time work and vice versa.

In Romania, employers must, as much as possible, take into account the demands of their employees to be transferred either from full-time to part-time work or vice versa. The ACA defines "full-time" employment as working an average of 30 hours per week. Larger employers not offering health insurance coverage for full-time workers are assessed a fee to help finance federal subsidies that eligible workers could receive when enrolling in individual insurance exchanges . First, the universe of workers vulnerable to having hours cut back due to the incentives of the mandate would have to be significant, in the aggregate or by industry.

Second, there would be a clear decrease in average hours worked per week at the time of implementation that is not accounted for by overall economic conditions. Third, there would be a greater cluster of workers appearing at or near 29 hours per week. Fourth, there would be a shift in the composition of net job growth, toward involuntary part-time work and away from full-time work.

Part-time employment in Australia involves a comprehensive framework. Part-time employees work fewer hours than their full-time counterparts within a specific industry. Part-time employees within Australia are legally entitled to paid annual leave, sick leave, and having maternity leave etc. except it is covered on a 'pro-rata' basis depending on the hours worked each week. Furthermore, as a part-time employee is guaranteed a ular roster within a workplace, they are given an annular salary paid each week, fortnight, or month. Employers within Australia are obliged to provide minimum notice requirements for termination, redundancy and change of rostered hours in relation to part-time workers.

As of January 2010, the number of part-time workers within Australia was approximately 3.3 million out of the 10.9 million individuals within the Australian workforce. The federal law most relevant to the distinction between part- and full-time employment is the Affordable Care Act, which requires that large employers share the financial responsibility of health insurance for full-time employees. The law defines full-time work as at least 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month. Companies that meet the threshold for size must either offer an affordable health insurance plan to these full-time employees or pay a penalty for not offering coverage.

No company, regardless of size, is required by the federal government to subsidize health insurance for part-time employees who work fewer than 30 hours per week or 130 hours per month. For the entitlement to annual paid leave, countries have instituted various formulas. Japan for example has a threshold of 30 hours per week entitling the employee to the same amount of annual leave as full-time workers, plus a minimum number of days of leave for those who work less than 30 hours per week.

Others, such as Brazil, specify the number of days of leave to which part-time employees are entitled according to the number of hours they work per week. In France, the same rules are used to calculate holiday pay for both part-time and full-time workers. Some countries require a minimum number of work hours to qualify for retirement pension contributions also received by full-timers, as in Ireland. In South Africa, employees who work less than 24 hours per month for an employer are not covered by the majority of their law's working-time provisions. Clearly part-time employment, especially involuntary part-time employment, has various adverse consequences.

In addition to traditional expansionary policies that would heighten demand for more hours of labor, we need policy innovations to help curb the excessive use of part-time employment by many employers and address the harmful effects of involuntary part-time work. Moreover, laws requiring that workers receive minimum pay for shifts that are canceled or schedules that are changed, along with unemployment insurance reforms would both incentivize reductions and mitigate the adverse impacts of involuntary part-time working. The suggestion that the "shared responsibility provision" of the Affordable Care Act is behind some of the shift toward part-time work is not supported by the data.

The provision requires that certain employers pay a fee if they don't offer a minimum level of health insurance to employees working 30 or more weekly hours. Had these health care–related labor costs prompted employers to reduce more positions to part-time hours, there would be a number of trends in the data that suggest a structural change in involuntary part-time working or hours worked, and these trends do not appear. But because "there is no legal definition provided by the Department of Labor for full-time or part-time employment," Reynolds says, each organization will generally set their own. In Muse career coach Jennifer Sukola's experience, people with part time jobs typically work 15 to 29 hours a week. However, some employers will consider anyone working less than 40 hours a week a part-time employee. Zukin and Van Horn advocate for an overtime pay premium for part-time employees that kicks in at relatively fewer hours per week than for full-timers, e.g., at over 35 hours per week, which would further redistribute hours toward the underemployed.

Second, employees can be disqualified from benefits in many states if they seek only part-time work, even if their qualifying employment and earnings came exclusively from part-time work. The UI Modernization Act gave grants to states to encourage them to allow otherwise monetarily eligible claimants with a part-time work history to search and be available only for part-time work. Nonetheless, as many as 21 states still require UI claimants to search for a full-time job. Eligibility for UI should be extended to more part-time workers and, indeed, to anyone who wants to reduce his or her work schedule for compelling reasons, including personal health and child care responsibilities. The federal government should enact a minimum standard in which workers qualify for UI benefits as long as the work being sought is for at least 20 hours per week . In San Jose, the "Opportunity to Work Ordinance" was approved in April 2016 to be included by the city clerk as a November 2016 ballot measure.

If passed, it would require San Jose employers to offer newly available working hours to qualified part-time employees before hiring more part-time staff or temporary employees. The employer would be free to set as short a time period as it prefers between announcing the availability of hours and making a new hire. Although San Francisco, Seattle, and SeaTac, Washington, have adopted similar ordinances, the San Jose initiative would be the first measure of its kind in the country to apply acrossallindustries.

The proposal was partly in response to survey findings that about 162,000 people employed in hourly jobs in San Jose have part-time or variable schedules at their main job, increasing from 26 percent in 2006 to 43 percent today . Right to request laws also typically involve a right to request shorter or part-time hours. Thus certain employees would be allowed to request both a floor and a ceiling—effectively a more stable number of weekly hours—and also block out days and times. Employers are simply required to interact with employees to determine if their requested schedule modifications are feasible, and if not, suggest an alternative.

A study by Graham-Squire and Jacobs quantifies how many workers are exposed to the risk that their employers, looking to evade the ACA employer mandate, would reduce workers' hours because they could relatively easily reduce these hours. According to the study this universe includes only workers at large firms that do not currently offer health insurance. Moreover, they are concentrated in a few industries—retail, restaurants, accommodations, and health care. Thus, Graham-Squire and Jacobs show that the empirical bite of the ACA provisions on involuntary part-time work is likely to be small. The biggest disadvantage that part-time workers face is their relatively lower rates of pay and their benefit coverage.

Prior research shows that the part-time wage penalty (the percent less in hourly wages that part-timers make relative to similar full-timers) is 19 percent for men and 9 percent for women. Part-time jobs, particularly those with the fewest weekly hours, also provide relatively less access to benefit coverage. Part-timers have only one-third the access to health insurance coverage as do full-timers—22 percent compared with 73 percent.

Many employers opt to provide benefits that are not required by law, such as dental insurance and paid vacation time. For these purposes, an employer can define part-time employment in whatever way that makes sense for the business. However, one important benefit of these perks is to contribute to employee morale and encourage workers to stay with a company. If an employer defines part-time work as anything less than 40 hours per week and doesn't extend benefits to part-time workers, the policy may create ill will, causing workers to be less likely to stay with the company in the long term. When people in the U.S. talk about benefits, health insurance is usually top of mind. While some employers do offer health insurance to some or all part-time employees, many do not.

So even if your employer considers you a part-time employee because you work less than 40 hours a week, you may still be legally entitled to health insurance coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act delimits full-time employment at 30 hours, with employers required to pay a per-full-time-employee fee if they don't offer a minimum level of health insurance. The fee could occur at steps rather than a cliff and be prorated, so that the fee gets higher the more hours the employee works.

This could discourage even the small effects on the level of involuntary part-time working that some have attributed to the ACA. Alternatively, the subsidies to workers could be reduced as the hours level rises, to counter the incentives indicated by Mulligan . Alternatively, the pay "penalties" for each could be set at $1,500, $2,000, and $2,500, respectively. Thus, while adding some complexity, gradually stepping the penalty from 20 to 25, to 30, to 35 hours might avert most of any unintended side effects. Granting this request could include a reward for employers who accommodate and implement such a request, in recognition of the potential burden even if it did not to rise to the level of denying the request.

Some advocates prefer to establish a minimum hours floor for all employees, such as guaranteeing hourly part-time workers a minimum number of hours when they are hired, whether it is 15, 20, 25, or 30 hours or something else (e.g., Cauthen 2011). However, this number may be better left to the input of the employees, in the event that they are not the typical involuntarily part-time worker but wish merely to remain part time with a few extra work hours or shifts per week. The key would be not so much to specify a set minimum but to provide workers some option to access additional hours of work at their existing job before resorting to multiple job holding or searching for a new job. In addition, granting requests of employees for shorter hours might free up available work hours for employees who are part time involuntarily, whether in the same workplace or in the industry generally . Much like the number of hours you'll work in a part-time job, the benefits you'll be eligible for will depend on where you work.

Many companies choose to only offer benefits—such as dental insurance or a childcare allowance—to full-time employees. Others choose to offer some or all of their benefits to part-time workers as well. A few of the benefits commonly offered to part-time employees are paid holidays, life insurance, and paid time off , Reynolds says. Under health care reform in Hawaii, employers must offer health insurance to employees who work more than 20 hours per week. Although more inclusive than the ACA, the Hawaii law was found to have led to an increase in the share of workers working fewer than 20 hours by only 1.4 percent. Indeed, the Massachusetts law, with a much smaller per employee fee ($295) than the ACA, had no discernable effects on either average hours or part-time working .

The most common benefits include health insurance, as well as dental, vision, and life insurance. Employers that offer insurance will usually pay for some (or even all!) of the monthly cost of the policy. Most full-time employees will also be eligible for paid time off through federal holidays, vacation days, and sick days. Some employers offer their full-time employee's retirement options such as a 401 plan , as well as other company-specific perks such as reimbursements for childcare, a fitness membership, an education stipend and stock options. As the name suggests, part-time workers have fewer hours than a full-time employee. Part-time jobs typically require no more than 35 hours per week, and may be as few as 5-10 hours.

Unlike full-time employees, part-time employees are not guaranteed the same number of hours or shifts each week. For example, a part-time cashier at a grocery store may only work 15 hours one week, and then 20 hours the following week. Part-time workers sometimes have the option of picking up additional shifts to cover for coworkers who call in sick, or for working extra hours during a particularly busy time of the year. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets federal regulations for wages and overtime pay, does not make any distinction between full- and part-time workers.

Employees are covered by the law's provisions whether they work 15 hours per week or 50. According to the FLSA, no matter how many hours an employee works, an employer cannot pay less than $7.25 per hour or the applicable state minimum wage. FLSA also sets parameters for employing minors, and these rules are also not affected by whether an employee's schedule meets a minimum number of hours. Overtime pay—which must be at least one and a half times your usual pay rate—kicks in when you've worked more than 40 hours a week.

All non-exempt part- and full-time workers are eligible for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in seven consecutive days. Some states and cities have higher thresholds for the salaries of exempt employees and/or a set number of hours worked within a given day before overtime kicks in, so be sure to check your local employment laws. For many office-based part-time jobs, employees will have a set schedule where they work the same hours every week, Reynolds says.

However, these hours may vary by season or based on certain company needs like large projects and events. Outside of office work, part-time employees may be more subject to fluctuating hours and shifts. Depending on the company and position, part-time employees might have some say and/or flexibility in setting their weekly schedules, which is ideal for workers with responsibilities outside of work such as school, caretaking duties, or another job. The Employment Standards Act sets out minimum rights for most employees in Ontario workplaces. It includes standards on payment of wages, public holidays, hours of work, overtime pay, vacation time and pay, statutory leaves, and termination and severance entitlements. If you are an employee working in Ontario, you are probably covered by the ESA.

However, some employees are not covered by the ESA and some employees who are covered by the ESA have special rules and/or exemptions that may apply to them. For more information, visit Your guide to the Employment Standards Act. Part-time employees are typically paid on an hourly basis and must comply with company rules, policies, and obligations, such as performance goals, safety rules, and company business practices. Even so, part-time employees generally have limited or no company benefits, such as health benefits, vacation and sick time, paid holidays, and unemployment compensation, among others, unless required by state labor laws and/or company policies. In 2015, Rutgers University published a survey of almost 1,000 part-time workers .43 Among other things, it provides useful information on the economic hardships of part-time workers, and involuntary part-time workers in particular.

Part-time workers were considered "involuntary" if they answered "yes" to the question, "Do you want a full-time job—35 hours a week at one place? Smaller companies may not be required to give employee benefits like sick leave, vacation time, or health insurance to full-time workers, even if they work 40 hours or more per week. There are also salary thresholds under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act that can affect your job classification. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, which has expanded UI "work-sharing" programs to 29 states, provides another way to increase the income of involuntary part-time employees.

Work sharing with STC reinforces the built-in, automatic stabilizer role of UI. "Access to hours" would mean additional hours would have to be offered first to existing part-time staff, with some time lapse (e.g., one to three days), before hiring new part-time employees, temporary workers, or contractors. An "Access to Hours" system engenders a more transparent process for distributing additional work hours and enables many underemployed workers to realize their preferences for more work hours at their primary job. In the Rutgers University survey, median "hours a week normally work, on average" was 25 for the entire sample, 24 for voluntary part time workers, and 29 for involuntary part-time workers.

How Many Hours In A Part Time Job Per Week Those with one part-time job report working a median of 20 hours per week voluntarily, but 25 if involuntarily. Reported hours rose to 35 hours if one were involuntarily part-time and had more than one job and to 50 hours per week if one of those other jobs were full time . Among those involuntary workers who came into a part-time from a full-time position, 32 percent report their current employer has reduced their hours, almost double the rate of only 17 percent of voluntary part-timers who say this happened to them. Part-time jobs come with a wage disadvantage relative to full-time jobs (see Hirsch 2005; Glauber 2013). Indeed, the most salient disadvantages faced by part-time workers are in their relatively lower rates of pay and benefit coverage.

Generally, part-time jobs pay little more than half the hourly rate paid in full-time jobs . More precisely, the part-time wage penalty (the percent by which hourly part-time wages lag full-time wages) for men is between 46 and 49 percent and for women it is between 22 and 26 percent. When adjusting for differences in personal, educational, locational, industrial, and occupational characteristics of workers, the part-time wage penalty for men is 19 percent and for women, 9 percent . The part-time pay penalty is somewhat larger for those working only 1 to 20 hours per week relative to those working 21 to 34 hours. The recent time series trend data examined in this report support the conclusions from the research reviewed above. Indeed, the share of workers working part time involuntarily due to the "inability to find full time" has dropped a bit in 2014 and 2015, after remaining stubbornly high in the recovery.