For millions of part-time workers, the jobs crisis isn't over

All things considered, the U.S. has done a decent job of addressing the jobs crisis of the last few years. The jobless rate in the U.S. is just 6.2 percent, well below the double-digit peak

it reached in 2009. In the eurozone, by contrast, the unemployment rate is 12 percent — and it isn't coming down, the result of a succession of policy mistakes that have facilitated an epic

economic depression.

But while the U.S. has used fiscal and monetary stimulus to bring down the headline unemployment rate, there are still a whopping 7.5 million people working part-time who want full-time

jobs. And for the sake of the economic recovery, the U.S. government must do more to help these part-time workers.

The headline unemployment rate — U-3 in the jargon of the Labor Department, shown in blue in the graph below — merely measures those who are looking for work. A more complete accounting of

workers without full-time jobs — U-6, also known as the underemployment rate, shown in red — includes part-time workers seeking full-time work and those who have dropped out of the labor

force altogether.

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About 28 percent of all part-time workers in July reported that slack business conditions or a dearth of full-time jobs kept them from finding full-time work. That's up from a 19 percent

share at the start of the downturn. [Bloomberg]

That is a problem for a lot of people — and the broader economy. A part-time job obviously doesn't pay what a full-time job does or provide benefits. That makes it harder to invest for

retirement, to amass money to start a business, to put a down payment on a house, to save for your children's college costs, and to afford a decent standard of living.

The problem is that Congress is incapable of doing anything about it. Fiscal policy is out of the question because of the paralysis and deficit phobia in Washington. Both sides say they want

to help the economy, but can't agree on the best approach. Republicans favor tax cuts, and Democrats favor spending, but neither side is keen to increase the deficit even in the name of

creating jobs and boosting the economy.

John Aziz is the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also an associate editor at Pieria.co.uk. Previously his work has appeared on Business Insider, Zero Hedge, and

Noahpinion.