Sarah Thomas is back at her job, but she’s no longer earning enough to pay her bills.
That’s because she was offered only 15 to 20 hours a week at her employer, a merchandising company, rather than her former full-time position. On top of that, her hourly pay was cut by $4, to $10.
When her air conditioning broke earlier this summer, she could only afford one for the living room, so she and her two children slept together on an air mattress.
“I can go to work, but I’m not even making enough to pay the rent,” said the Gainesville, Florida, resident. “It puts you deeper and deeper into the hole.”
Thomas, 38, is looking for a full-time job, preferably working from home, but the pickings are slim.
“The economy is not where it should be right now,” she said.
Although the nation has added more than 9 million jobs over the past three months, many readers have told CNN that they are being offered only part-time shifts. Others say their employers have cut their pay.
In July alone, when the economy added a total of 1.8 million jobs, the number of people working part-time rose by 803,000 to 24 million.