Source: FRED: LNS12032194 (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
Data through: September 2026 · updated Oct 2 · Updates: Monthly · Next: Nov 6
MThe three bars show the last 3 months for this indicator, oldest left to newest right. Bar height reflects each reading relative to the other two — the tallest is the highest of the three, the shortest the lowest.
Historical context: Currently in the 58th percentile of all historical readings.
What this means right now: The number stuck in part-time work is in its normal range — 4 to 5 million, as in 234 of the 856 months since 1955, about 1 month in 4. The job market is balanced: neither very tight nor showing real slack.
Part-time for Economic Reasons · Monthly · 1955–2026
NBER recessions
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Monthly values
Part-time for Economic Reasons — the last 12 months
Every month's reading, with the band the heatmap gives it. The chart above shows the same series in full.
Month
Value
Band
Sep 2026
4.50M
Within normal range
Aug 2026
4.39M
Within normal range
Jul 2026
4.80M
Within normal range
Jun 2026
4.68M
Within normal range
May 2026
4.80M
Within normal range
Apr 2026
4.94M
Within normal range
Month-end readings of the same series the chart shows, from parttime_economic. Values are the current record, not point-in-time: a month that has since been revised shows its revised value.
What is the Part-time Econ?
This BLS measure counts people who want full-time work but can only find part-time hours, or whose hours were cut because business is slow. It is one part of the broader U-6 unemployment measure, and it picks up weakness in the job market that the headline unemployment rate does not show.
The headline unemployment rate counts only people with no work at all who are looking for a job. This series counts the "shadow unemployed" — people who have a job but not the hours they want. When it rises, employers are cutting hours before they cut jobs. In practice it has moved with the unemployment rate rather than ahead of it: before the ten recessions since 1957, it rose first in four, at the same time in two, and after the unemployment rate in four.
One caution: the monthly figures are noisy and are best read alongside U-6 and the headline unemployment rate. The series also misses people who have given up looking for full-time work altogether.
How We Color-Code the Part-time Econ
Our heatmap colors this indicator against historically significant thresholds:
Below 3.50M
A very tight job market — below 3.5 million. Common in the early record (275 months since 1955) but not seen since August 2001
3.50M – 4.00M
Tight labor market — modest involuntary part-time work
4.00M – 5.00M
Normal range — typical mid-cycle conditions
5.00M – 6.00M
Elevated — 5 to 6 million people in part-time jobs they do not want, as in 111 months since 1955, 20 of them inside a recession
Above 6.00M
Severe — above 6 million, as in 154 months since 1955. Mostly this is the aftermath of a recession: 19 of those months came inside one and 90 in the three years after one
Historical Extremes — What Happened Next?
When this indicator reaches extreme levels, history shows consistent patterns:
Apr 2020COVID-19 labor market collapse
10.9M
The number of people forced into part-time work nearly doubled in a single month, from 5.8 to 10.9 million — two and a half times February's 4.4 million — as businesses cut hours before they cut jobs. Within 18 months the count was back within 1% of its February 2020 level.
Sep 2010Post-GFC peak in involuntary part-time work
9.25M
The financial-crisis peak. Unlike the COVID spike, it built slowly, over nearly three years — from 4.6 million in December 2007 to 9.2 million in September 2010 — and took until July 2018, almost eight more years, to get back to where it started.
Jun 2022Post-pandemic low
3.65M
The lowest reading since August 2001 — 3.7 million, below even 2019's low of 4.0 million. Employers were competing for workers rather than cutting hours: job openings hit their record (12.3 million, March 2022) and so did the share of workers quitting (3.0%, November 2021 and April 2022).
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from the unemployment rate?
The headline unemployment rate counts only people with zero hours who are actively seeking work. Part-time for economic reasons counts people who are employed — but working fewer hours than they want. Both measure labor market health but from different angles: unemployment measures joblessness, this series measures underemployment.
What causes part-time for economic reasons to rise?
Two reasons are counted: employers cutting hours because business is slack, and workers who could only find part-time jobs. Both reflect weak demand for labor, whether businesses trimming costs or too few full-time openings.
How does this relate to U-6 unemployment?
Part-time for economic reasons is one of the components that makes U-6 broader than U-3. U-6 adds marginally attached workers and involuntary part-timers to the standard unemployed count. Over a year the two have moved together. In about 3 of every 4 months since 1994 when this count was higher than a year before, U-6 was higher too. Together they describe more of the labor market's slack than either does alone.
Is 4.5M involuntary part-time workers high or low historically?
The latest reading is 4.5M (Sep 2026). For comparison, in the three years before the pandemic (2017–2019) the count ran between 4.0 and 5.8 million, and 2015 had begun at 6.8 million, still working off the 2010 peak. The low of 2023 was 3.7 million (May 2023) and the record high 10.9 million (April 2020). The September 2010 peak of 9.2 million came fifteen months after the recession ended — this measure can keep rising long after a downturn is over.
Why do employers cut hours before cutting headcount?
Hiring and firing is expensive — training, severance, higher unemployment-insurance costs. Cutting hours costs nothing and can be reversed at once. So hours are the first thing employers adjust when business slows. Even so, this count has moved with the unemployment rate rather than ahead of it: before the ten recessions since 1957 it rose first in four, in the same month in two, and after the unemployment rate in four. It has also given many false alarms — of its 34 clear rises since 1957, 24 came with no recession underway or within the next year. Jobless claims have turned a month earlier than this series, not later.