Part-Time Is The New Full-Time

As advertising revenue at the broadcast nets continues to shrink, and
more daily hires are doing the work that used be be done by staff
employees, I continue to hear stories along the lines of “No you can’t
work with so-and-so tomorrow. They have already worked their 24 hours
for the week.”

Sad, but part of a rising trend nationwide.

From Economist David Rosenberg of Gluskin Sheff on June 9, 2009: “It
may be true that companies are not cutting back on bodies as much as
they were earlier this year because nobody wants to let their skilled
staff go despite the lingering weakness in sales. So the strategy
remains one of cutting back on hours worked at the same time — not as
many layoffs but the effort to economize on the wage bill remains
intact. What has happened this cycle is that the shift towards part-time
and away from full-time has led to a dramatic reduction in the average
workweek to a record low 33.1 hours.”