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Hourly workforce carries burden during recession

Workers' challenges likely to remain after recoveryThe United States workforce, battered by an economic slowdown, now includes a record number of workers who are involuntarily working part-time due to reduced hours or the inability to find a full-time job.Hourly workers ? the majority of the wage and salary workforce ? are especially susceptible to reduced, irregular and fluctuating hours, and the myriad of challenges associated with them, according to researchers at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.Although much has been made of the hardships facing the nearly 10 percent of Americans out of work in the current recession, many workers approach this Labor Day having held onto their jobs while being disadvantaged. So claim Susan Lambert and Julia Henly, associate professors at SSA who are experts on the hourly workforce and workplace flexibility for low-level workers.Hourly and especially part-time workers receive limited formal employee benefits from their employers, and

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