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Sunday 26 January 2014 11.00 EST
Part-time work is the best recourse for more and more Americans, turning them into freelancers, students and distillers
Jim Beam employees along a conveyor belt in the bottling plant at the Jim Beam Bourbon Distillery on January 13, 2014 in Clermont, Kentucky. Photograph: Luke Sharrett/Getty Images
The rocky recovery since the Great Recession has been marked by fewer full-time jobs, lower wages, and the rise of part-time work. "Since the end of 2007, the number of employed workers who work part-time but want full-time jobs has increased about 4.3m, or more than 70%," Brookings pointed out recently.
The real-world dynamics of living on part-time work, however, aren't told in the statistics. Some take part-time work because they can't find full-time jobs; others, because they're going to school; others yet, because they fell into the part-time life and liked it better. We talked to some part-time workers to find out how they make it work.
Steven Lowell says of his life as a part-time worker, "it's highly budgeted. I keep track of every single thing." Photograph: /Steven Lowell
Steven Lowell, 40, New York, NY
How are you making a living right now?
I worked for a website for about six years. I was hired as a customer service manager who ended up blogging. I quit that job in January to see if I could do something new. But the job market is very tough, so in April of last year, when I got a call from one of our competitors, and he wanted me to be a part-time blogger for him, I took that. I'm doing that, 20-25 hours a week. I'm at a point where I'm trying to figure out what to do next.
How else do you make money?
I do some part-time voiceover work. I have recording equipment at home, and the jobs appear on websites. Say you were doing a web video on your website. You'd post a script and I'd read it from home with soundproofing equipment. I'd send that audition in and if you like it, you'd hire me for it.
How much does voiceover pay?
The bigger companies that have a lot more money and require professional reads, major networks or film or ad agencies, they pay a lot better. But if it's a smaller business, a startup website, or someone who wants their blog read out loud, those jobs pay very little. They pay only $100-300.
read more Faces of the part-time economy: how to survive without full-time work | Money | theguardian.com
Part-time work is the best recourse for more and more Americans, turning them into freelancers, students and distillers
Jim Beam employees along a conveyor belt in the bottling plant at the Jim Beam Bourbon Distillery on January 13, 2014 in Clermont, Kentucky. Photograph: Luke Sharrett/Getty Images
The rocky recovery since the Great Recession has been marked by fewer full-time jobs, lower wages, and the rise of part-time work. "Since the end of 2007, the number of employed workers who work part-time but want full-time jobs has increased about 4.3m, or more than 70%," Brookings pointed out recently.
The real-world dynamics of living on part-time work, however, aren't told in the statistics. Some take part-time work because they can't find full-time jobs; others, because they're going to school; others yet, because they fell into the part-time life and liked it better. We talked to some part-time workers to find out how they make it work.
Steven Lowell says of his life as a part-time worker, "it's highly budgeted. I keep track of every single thing." Photograph: /Steven Lowell
Steven Lowell, 40, New York, NY
How are you making a living right now?
I worked for a website for about six years. I was hired as a customer service manager who ended up blogging. I quit that job in January to see if I could do something new. But the job market is very tough, so in April of last year, when I got a call from one of our competitors, and he wanted me to be a part-time blogger for him, I took that. I'm doing that, 20-25 hours a week. I'm at a point where I'm trying to figure out what to do next.
How else do you make money?
I do some part-time voiceover work. I have recording equipment at home, and the jobs appear on websites. Say you were doing a web video on your website. You'd post a script and I'd read it from home with soundproofing equipment. I'd send that audition in and if you like it, you'd hire me for it.
How much does voiceover pay?
The bigger companies that have a lot more money and require professional reads, major networks or film or ad agencies, they pay a lot better. But if it's a smaller business, a startup website, or someone who wants their blog read out loud, those jobs pay very little. They pay only $100-300.
read more Faces of the part-time economy: how to survive without full-time work | Money | theguardian.com
