February 23, 2000 (The Editor’s Desk is updated each business day.)

Part-time workers in 1998

Fewer individuals worked part time in 1998 compared with the previous year.

[Chart data—TXT]

In 1998, 29.1 million workers were usually on a part-time schedule (1 to 34 hours per week), down from 30.1 million the year before. In contrast, the number of full-time workers rose from 113.1 million in 1997 to 115.7 million in 1998.

Women were much more likely than men to work part time in 1998. There were 19.5 million women who usually worked part time in 1998—they accounted for 28.4 percent of working women. This compared with 9.7 million men who worked part time—12.7 percent of working men.

These data are from the March 1999 Supplement to the Current Population Survey. Learn more in "Work Experience of the Population in 1998," news release USDL 00-22.