Cynthia Mejia has a strong desire to work.
Since moving to the Twin Cities urban place about six years ago, she and her husband, Amauris, have been searching for part-time work to supplement what they earn working full-time. Although living in this area costs less than in their native New York, rising rates have resulted in cutting back on restaurants, giving up their treadmill participation, and allowing their dog to almost work out before purchasing more.
It would seem that nabbing one of the part-time tasks for which the Rosemount, Minnesota, partners have applied would not be too difficult, given how many companies are struggling to find staff. In Minnesota — where career openings have outnumbered career seekers since 2021— most vacancies , are in sectors , reliant on part-time or annual workers to perform cash registers, waited tables or prepared food for an hourly wage.
But the Mejias also haven’t landed a side hustle.
” Every day, I’m searching”, Cynthia Mejia said.
Even though part-time shift positions are abundant on paper, a prospective employer may not be interested in working with a lack of knowledge, which the Mejias are dealing with. In higher-paid expert areas, part-time choices are few and far between and may reduce career options down the line. It’s a change from the post-pandemic labour market, when employment seekers held more power.
The U. S. labour market is showing signs of rebounding as the unemployment rate pushes up from , a half-century low , in 2023, but there are still more work than people to fill them. Employers , added 143, 000 work in January, with the biggest increases in health care, store and cultural guidance.
Though Minnesota has one of the country’s highest labor force participation rates — , nearly 68 %  , compared to , about 63 %  , nationally — there were 0.6 job seekers for every job opening as of November, according to the state Department of Employment and Economic Development ( DEED ).
At a Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis function in January, labour market data director for DEED Angelina Nguyn said that employers continue to entice workers with incentives like higher wages and lower minimum qualifications, such as allowing job experience to replace education or providing on-the-job training.
Employers must work hard to attract and keep skills, she said.
Similar to how buyers and sellers can influence the housing industry, what companies are willing to take from job prospects varies with the labor market. According to independent monetary policy specialist Kathryn Edwards, employers ‘ requirements become more demanding as more people look for work.
” A lot of the’ I didn’t get a person ‘ is provisional on’ given what I require at this moment’ and no’ that person doesn’t occur,'” she said.
The go-to thermometer for the health of the job market is the unemployment rate, which in January , was 4 % nationwide. Instead, Edwards points to the 3.4 % hiring rate, which has remained low in recent years despite the worker shortage. Previously, she noted, a hiring level that small has come with an ordinary unemployment rate greater than 8 %.
” Our labour market is in the middle of a deep, deep crisis for people who don’t have a job”, Edwards said.
Jackie McKone retired during the epidemic after 28 years as a freelance court reporter, and she has searched for part-time business labor since then. She’s receptive to anything — filing paperwork, typing, answering phones, delivering coffee — and has even offered to work for free, just to get out of the home.
” I didn’t think I didn’t get a part-time job”, said McKone, of Minneapolis. I only wonder why employers are so receptive to someone who has everything they need to improve but just wants to work 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. a few days a year.
The U. S. doesn’t have a tradition of part-time function beyond low-wage move work, Edwards said. In 2023, the most recent month of available information, Minnesota reported the greatest amount of job openings in food-preparation-and-serving-related activities. This physically demanding sector was also the lowest-paid of those measured, with a median wage offer of$ 15.25 an hour, or$ 8.86 adjusted for inflation.
In higher-paid specialized fields, options for part-time function are limited. It can be difficult to find time for things that lend themselves to career advancement for those who do work fewer hours in those areas, according to Colleen Flaherty Manchester, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. This is frequently due to caregiving or various personal requirements imposed on people outside of labor.
” How do you design a part-time work? What goes into it”? she said. ” If it’s just the necessary stuff, it’s likely to be a dying end”.
Post-pandemic, Manchester said, companies have started turning to companies who can get on high-paid functions on a temporary basis, more than hiring regular employees to work fewer hours. According to her, the arrangement gives the employer more room to choose and gives the employee more authority to choose whether or not to work on a particular project.
At the same time, Manchester said, it might be challenging for someone who’s worked on a contract or part-time basis to transition back to full-time work.
Emily Franks ‘ social work job gave her a lot of flexibility: She could take her young son to a doctor’s appointment during the day and resume her work as needed during off-hours. But she made the decision to take control of her own work schedule after a year of juggling being a mother and working full-time.
When Franks started an in-home daycare, she was already selling Mary Kay on the side. She launched the Aesthetic Dollar, an online store selling personal budgeting tools when her husband also made the decision to launch his own construction company.
The Prior Lake couple has more time with their four children, one of whom has special needs, because they can set their own schedules.
How do people who work from 9 to 5 navigate through all of the appointments, all of the therapies, and all of the things?” My husband and I always say this to each other. She stated as she drove to pick up her kids from school on a recent Monday afternoon. ” I believe it would be difficult for me to go back to something like that at this time in my life.”
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