Overview

Employer-sponsored health insurance (ESI) is the primary source of health coverage for working non-elderly adults,but adults working part time (fewer than 35 hours per week) have less access to these benefits than their full-time counterparts. Among non-elderly adults employed by public or private employers (excluding the self-employed), 18.5 million, or 14% of adult workers, work part time. This report examines the characteristics of part-time workers and their access to employer-sponsored health benefits.

Part-time workers-especially those living in households without a full-time worker-are less likely to be offered health coverage and less likely to be enrolled in an employer plan, either through their own employer or as a dependent on someone else’s plan. Part-time workers who do not have employer coverage may be eligible for Medicaid or for subsidized coverage in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces. However, recent cuts in these coverage programs included in the Republican tax and spending law, as well as the potential expiration of enhanced Marketplace tax credits, will make it harder for individuals who may not have access to an affordable, job-based plan to find coverage.

who are Part-Time Workers?

Workers cite a wide range of reasons for usually working part-time. Some of the most common include enrollment in school or a training program (30%); family or personal obligations, including childcare obligations (26%); and having a job where full-time work is less than 35 hours per week (19%). Smaller shares report working part time because they are unable to find full-time work (7%) or due to illness, health, or medical limitations (4%).

Generally, part-time workers can be broken into two categories: those working part time for economic reasons (such as inability to find work or seasonal declines in demand), and those working part time for non-economic reasons (such as medical limitations, childcare responsibilities, family or personal obligations, retirement, or jobs where full-time work is less than 35 hours per week). For this analysis, workers enrolled in school or training programs are treated as a seperate category due to their large share of the part time workforce. The analysis focuses on non-elderly adult workers who usually work part time; it excludes full-time workers who happened to be working part time at the time of the survey.

On average, part-time workers are younger than full-time workers (35 years old vs. 41 years old) and are more likely to be women (66% vs. 46%). More than half (52%) of part-time workers earned a high school diploma (or equivalent) as their highest level of education. Compared to full-time workers, part-time workers are less likely to have earned a bachelor’s degree (27% vs 44%), or a postgraduate degree such as a master’s or doctorate degree (9% vs 16%).

Part-time workers are more likely than full-time workers to have household incomes below twice the federal poverty level (30% vs. 13%), which is about $30,120 for a single person and $62,400 for a family of four. At the same time, part-time workers are not a homogeneous group; many live in households with higher incomes. Specifically, 42% of part-time workers have household in

Health Coverage for Part-Time Workers

Part-time workers are less likely to have health insurance coverage than full-time workers. In 2023, 47% of part-time workers had health coverage through any source, compared to 89% of full-time workers. This gap in coverage is driven by a number of factors, including the fact that part-time workers are less likely to be offered health insurance by their employers, and less likely to be eligible for and take up coverage when it is offered.

Offers and take-up of employer-based coverage

One of the reasons part-time workers are less likely to have health coverage through their job is that they are less likely to work for employers who offer health benefits. Specifically,only 60% of part-time workers work for an employer that offers health insurance,compared to 84% for full-time workers.

Among part-time workers who do work for an employer offering health benefits, just 64% are eligible to take up the coverage. For those who work for an employer offering coverage but are not eligible to enroll:

• 84% do not work enough hours per week or weeks per year to qualify,
• 8% are contract or temporary employees,
• and 5% have not worked for their employer long enough to become eligible.

Of the 60% of part-time workers that work for an employer that offers health insurance, only 64% are actually eligible for coverage at their job. 19% of part-time workers are covered by their own employer.