How to Hire Part-Time Employees
Last updated . Every number on this page was checked October 2, 2026.
How to hire part-time employees: set the job and its hours, find and choose the person, then do the hiring forms and reports. The steps stay the same as for a full-time hire under the rules this site has checked. What changes is the hours, the cost and the benefits you choose to offer.
In Texas, the unemployment tax rule is the same for a part-time employee as for a full-time one. At 20 hours a week, which is this site's assumption, a part-time administrative assistant in Texas costs $2,048.29 a month at the middle (median) wage. That's wages plus employer taxes, before benefits (BLS May 2025 wages, 2026 tax rates).
This page is a plain reading of the rules. It isn't legal or tax advice.
How do you hire a part-time employee?
You hire a part-time employee in five steps: set the job and the hours, pick the person, make the offer, do the hiring forms and reports, and start the person. Under the rules this site has checked, they match the steps for a full-time hire, with one extra job at the start: deciding what part time means at your business.
- Set the job and the hours. Write down the tasks, the days and the hours a week. The Texas Workforce Commission says Texas and federal laws leave it to the employer to define full time and part time and to set the schedule.
- Pick the person. For finding and choosing the person, see how to hire employees.
- Make the offer. Put the hours a week, the days, the pay and the start date in writing.
- Do the hiring forms and reports. The first hire steps guide lists each step in order, with the Texas office, the form and the deadline. The next section covers what stays the same for a part-time hire.
- Start the person and keep your records. Track the hours worked, since the cost and some benefit rules turn on them.
For a remote employee, see how to hire remote employees.
Do the hiring steps change for a part-time employee?
The hiring steps don't change for a part-time employee under the rules this site has checked. Texas unemployment tax rules say it doesn't matter if the employee is full time or part time. The US Department of Labor says the federal wage law doesn't address part-time work, and that being full time or part time doesn't change how that law applies.
| Item | Same or different | What the source says |
|---|---|---|
| Texas unemployment tax | Same | An employer owes it once it pays $1,500 in wages in a calendar quarter, or has one employee in 20 different weeks of a year. Full time or part time doesn't matter |
| Registering with the Texas Workforce Commission | Same | An employer must register within ten days of owing the tax |
| The federal wage law | Same | It doesn't address part-time work, and full time or part time doesn't change how it applies |
| What "part time" means | Yours to set | Texas and federal laws leave the definition and the schedule to the employer. BLS counts fewer than 35 hours a week as part time, for statistics only. It says that isn't a legal definition |
| Benefits | Can be different | It's legal to give part-time employees one set of benefits, or none, and full-time employees another, as long as there's equal employment opportunity in the company |
| Cost a month | Different | Fewer hours mean lower wages, and the employer taxes that are a percent of wages go down with them. The next section has the figures |
If you're weighing an employee against a contractor for the same hours, that's a different question. For a part-time employee next to a contractor, see part time employee vs independent contractor.
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What does a part-time employee cost a month?
At 20 hours a week, which is this site's assumption, a part-time administrative assistant in Texas costs $2,048.29 a month as an employee at the middle (median) wage. A part-time web developer costs $3,872.24 a month on the same basis. Both are wages plus employer taxes, before benefits (BLS May 2025 wages, 2026 tax rates).
| BLS job | Texas | US (state unemployment tax not included) |
|---|---|---|
| Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive | $2,048.29 | $2,136.26 |
| Web Developers | $3,872.24 | $4,158.93 |
The 20 hours a week runs for all 52 weeks of the year. It's this site's assumption, and no source sets it. These are middle wages for two jobs, so they aren't a quote. Your hire can cost less or more.
Inside each Texas figure is $243 a year of Texas unemployment tax, which is the 2.70% entry rate on the first $9,000 of pay. The US column has no state unemployment tax in it, so it isn't like for like with the Texas column.
Can a part-time employee get health insurance or other benefits?
Whether a part-time employee gets health insurance or other benefits turns on what the employer offers and on the hours worked. The Texas Workforce Commission's employer guide says it's legal to give part-time employees one set of benefits, or none, and full-time employees another, as long as there's equal employment opportunity in the company.
Two rules in that guide turn on hours. Each one matters only if you offer that benefit:
- Health insurance. If an employer has a health insurance plan, the guide says an "eligible employee" is anyone who usually works at least 30 hours a week.
- Retirement. If a company offers a pension or retirement plan, the guide says federal law gives an employee who works at least 1,000 hours in a twelve-month period the chance to join it.
For scale, 20 hours a week for 52 weeks is 1,040 hours. This page doesn't say how a plan counts hours. Ask your accountant.
The monthly figures on this page leave benefits out. The first hire cost page lists what else they leave out.
Which benefits an employer must or should offer is outside what this page covers. Not legal or tax advice. Ask your accountant how these rules apply to you.
More on hiring an employee
If the part-time job on your list is production work, ask on a call whether a flat-rate team could take it.
The button opens DeskTeam360's Book a Call page.
Sources
- Texas Workforce Commission, when an employer owes unemployment tax
- Texas Workforce Commission, Especially for Texas Employers: part-time and full-time status
- US Department of Labor, part-time employment
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, how it defines part time
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 Occupation Profiles, Texas and US, job codes 43-6014 and 15-1254
- IRS Topic 751, Social Security and Medicare, for the 2026 tax rates in the monthly figures
- IRS Topic 759, federal unemployment tax, for the 2026 tax rates in the monthly figures
- Texas Workforce Commission, unemployment tax rates, for the 2026 tax rates in the monthly figures
- The math: each total worked out two different ways, and the hours in a year at 20 hours a week
- This site's first hire cost page, for what the figures count and leave out
All checked October 2, 2026.
This site isn't connected to the State of Texas or any government agency.
What changed
- October 2, 2026: First version of this page.