In a new Rutgers study focusing on older part-time workers, 71 percent said changes in Social Security benefits was the most important policy change the federal government could make. These part-time workers, age 50-plus, also said the minimum wage should be raised, and part-time workers should be able to participate in 401K retirement plans, earn overtime if they work over 35 hours a week and collect unemployment insurance while looking for full-time work.
The study, the latest in the “Work Trends” series of Americans’ attitudes about work, employers and government by Rutgers’ John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development and based on U.S. Census Bureau data and the center’s 2015 survey of part-time workers, focuses on part-time workers, age 50 and older. It compares the lives of those working part time by choice to those working less than 35 hours per week, often due to circumstances beyond their control.