Involuntary part-time workers aren’t happy

July 31, 2015

Charles Dickens’ famous phrase opening “A Tale of Two Cities” — It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — lends itself to a new study by the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development.

Professor Carl Van Horn and his colleagues at Rutgers University this spring did an in-depth survey of 944 workers, 504 of whom were involuntary part-time workers and 440 who were part-timers by choice. They were a sample of the 26 million Americans who hold part-time jobs.

The survey found that most of the part-timers were happy with their work lives.

Recent Posts

New Jersey State Policy Lab Annual Report

As the New Jersey State Policy Lab (NJSPL) reaches its fourth anniversary, it is my honor to serve as the Executive Director, working with an incredible team of dedicated professionals to better understand and investigate policy issues impacting the state. The NJSPL...

RAISE-25 Recap – Our Future With AI: Utopian or Dystopian?

Summary Hosted by the Master of Public Informatics (MPI) program, the final round of the second annual RAISE-25 Informatics – Data Science competition was held Friday, April 11, 2025, at the Bloustein School. The competition challenge focused on “Our Future With AI:...

Comparison of NJ and U.S. Greenhouse Gas Targets

Comparison of New Jersey's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets with United States' Nationally Determined Contribution and Projected Global Reduction Pathways Consistent with the Paris Agreement Abstract Following the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC...

Inside, Outside, & In Between: Leading In Government

Inside, Outside, and In Between: Leading Across All Levels of Government For our penultimate episode of EJB Talks for the spring 2025 semester, Bloustein School Young Alumni honoree and Advisory Board Member Sara Meyers MPP '09 shares her unconventional path into...

NJSPL – Implications of The E-Bike Boom for New Jersey

The E-Bike Boom: What It Means for New Jersey’s Streets and Transportation Future Hannah Younes, Leigh Ann Von Hagen, Jacob Thompson, Yingning Xie If you’ve noticed more e-bikes around your neighborhood lately, you’re not imagining things. In 2022 alone, over one...