How Many Hours a Week Is Considered Part Time?

What’s the difference between a part time job and a full time job? How many hours per week is “part time,” exactly? You’d think the answer would be simple, wouldn’t you?

It’s not that simple, though. You may be surprised to learn that there’s not much in the way of strict legal standards for these terms. In fact, it’s mostly up to the company you work for. “Part time” is what they decide it is.

Still, whether you’re an employer or an employee, there are a few important things you should know about the differences between part time and full time jobs. If you’re an employer, there are certain legal requirements that you should be aware of .

Traditionally, industries like food service and retail have been the home of part time employees. But with the rise of the gig economy, part time jobs are cropping up in more workplaces and in more industries.

If you’re a worker in a part time job, you probably won’t get as many benefits as full time employees — although you may find there are other advantages to working part time hours.

Let’s take a closer look at part time jobs. If you’re looking for work on an online job board like ZipRecruiteror if you’re an employer posting an open position, here’s what you need to know.

How Many Hours Is Part Time?

Employers have a lot of leeway in how they define part time employees vs. full time employees, and how many hours each kind of employee works per week.

How many hours? For some companies, a part time job is anything less than 35 hours per week, while full time is anything above 35 hours per week.

For other companies, a part time employee works less than 32 hours per week, while full time employees work 32 – 40 hours per week.

For a smaller number of companies, the cutoff is at 30 hours per week.

The federal government doesn’t have a single, across-the-board standard for how many hours is part time. The US Department of Labor has no official definition for part…