CHANGE: The man who should have been Labor Secretary, Andy Puzder, writes in the Wall Street Journal about how the employment atmosphere is changing:
The Obama economy was a “part time” economy that failed to generate the full-time jobs Americans need.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people working full time increased by 2.4 million in 2017, compared with only 1.6 million in 2016. In other words, the overall number of jobs added was lower in 2017, but only because hundreds of thousands of people left part-time for full-time jobs.
Both 2016 and 2017 set some year-end records. In 2016, BLS recorded the highest number of people working part time at year’s end since it began recording the data in 1968. In 2017, it recorded the highest number of people working full time at year’s end since 1968 and the fewest working part-time since 2011.
As I mentioned last week, the next thing to look for is people being attracted back into the labor force from never-ending education and the like.