TheLedger.com:
In an unusual twist, many moms are finding themselves in a new scenario: seeking work-at-home arrangements driven not by flexibility – think soccer practices and piano recitals – but as the best option to supplement family income.
With a surge in male breadwinners out of work, mothers are selling jewelry out of their kitchens, running businesses out of their living rooms and seeking Internet opportunities to make up for the shortfall in household budgets.
Indeed, women are scrambling to find anything that they can get their hands on to pay a few bills. Some are even working from home to supplement their part-time income. For most men, the main priority still is finding a full-time job, devoting almost all their day to their search.
But with four unemployed workers for every job opening, moms like Kim Perez of Pembroke Pines are moving into action. A few months ago, recession reality forced Perez, mother of a toddler, to look for new money-making possibilities when her hours as a retail sales associate were cut in half. Her husband, a builder, has been out of work for almost a year.
Perez considers herself in transition. She has set up a makeshift office in her bedroom and sells glass jewelry. “I’m hoping I can turn this into a full-time arrangement and make good money.”
The numbers are jarring: 800,000 women have lost full-time positions in the past 12 months, and those on payrolls part time grew by nearly 900,000.
For the women who work part time, first-quarter median earnings were $269 a week. But men are increasingly seeing their schedules reduced, too. As of March, the number of men working part-time positions increased 14 percent from a year earlier.
Photo by Miami Herald.