Full-time foot-dragging for America's jobs recovery means part-time employment has been on the rise.

Workers
Clark Hopkins, Getty Images
loading...

With so many companies hiring part-time workers, some fear America could become a part-time economy.  And while that fear seems unfounded, the climb back to full-time employment has been very slow.

In fact, the jobs recovery from the Great Recession has been ongoing for 43 months.  "At the current pace, it's going to take us another eight to 10 months to get back to where we were, pre-recession," said Patrick O'Keefe, director of economic research at Cohn Reznick.

In the interim, part-time employment has flourished. Almost one in five in the workforce are part-time right now. But that is not by choice. "These underemployed individuals are a symptom of a much broader, sluggish recovery in the American economy," said O'Keefe.

Most economists expect the employment ship to eventually right itself and full-time jobs dominate. But no one is quite sure when that will happen.

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM