US employers want more part-time workers. Here’s what that means

Companies are becoming more fond of part timers these days.

A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link. Companies have become fonder of part-timers these days. Demand for full-time workers on jobs site Indeed has been flat from January 2022 to May of this year, according to a recent analysis of millions of job postings, but advertisements for part-time gigs were up about 10% over the same period. Postings for those kinds of jobs took off in 2022 and have remained near those elevated levels ever since. (Full-time is still the most common type of work on Indeed by far, according to the report.) Hiring activity has shown a similar trend: The level of part-time employment was up 8.9% in May from January 2022, compared to the 1.5% increase of full-time employment during the same period, according to Labor Department data. The could signal a turning point in the labor market, a key aspect of the economy the Federal Reserve is watching as it mulls the timing of the first interest rate cut, after it jacked up borrowing costs to a 23-year high to combat inflation. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly laid out how the job market has changed recently and what could be ahead at an event hosted by the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California last week.