“It’s a tale of two workforces,” said Cliff Zukin, a public-policy professor and study coauthor.
He and fellow public-policy professor Carl Van Horn, who directs the Heldrich Center, polled a representative sample of nearly 1,000 workers to try to understand the economics and motivations of part-time workers, particularly because, as of May, 26 million, or nearly one in five workers, were employed part time.