Full-time employment in the U.S. continues to improve. As available unemployed workers become
scarcer, employers may be inclined to offer more as they select from a smaller
pool. The Big Three benefits of
full-time employment that employers can provide their employees are pensions
and retirement plans, healthcare insurance and unemployment insurance.
All three areas are stressed. Pensions, including Social Security, are being
stretched by the wave of retiring, older workers who claim the benefit in retirement.
Does the trend suggest employers and employees will pay a higher percentage of
pay to the Social Security system in the future just to make ends meet? Health
care costs, including insurance, continue to increase significantly year on
year. Unemployment insurance payouts for laid off full-time employees, state to
state, have been requested significantly during the last decade.
What have been the responses by employers? First, they
use part-time or contract employees to avoid paying some benefits. Second, employers over time have
significantly reduced the employer share of pension contributions and health
care payments. Third, they have removed benefits.
What then happens as we approach full employment? My guess, not much changes even though,
theoretically, labor has more leverage in an open market for talent.
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