These days, if you look at job sites, you often see that working two part-time jobs can yield a higher total hourly wage than one full-time job. In fact, when you crunch the numbers, the hourly pay can be similar or even better for part-time work.

However, there is one crucial factor that is often overlooked: health insurance.

For example, if you work two part-time jobs at $17 an hour for 20 hours each per week, your weekly earnings would be around $680. In contrast, if you work one full-time job at $15 an hour for 40 hours, your weekly earnings would be $600, which seems lower.

At this point, it looks like the part-time combination wins, but once you factor in insurance premiums, the situation changes completely.

When working two part-time jobs, there is a high likelihood that you won't qualify for health insurance from either company. In the U.S., full-time employment is defined as working at least 30 hours a week, or 130 hours a month.

Companies with 50 or more employees are legally required to provide health insurance to employees who meet this threshold.

On the other hand, if you split your hours between two part-time jobs and work less than 30 hours a week, you fall completely outside of this requirement. The companies can legally avoid the insurance burden, and the employee ends up without coverage from either job.

Another point to note is that companies may assess whether an employee is truly full-time not on a weekly basis, but by averaging over a maximum measurement period of 12 months.

This means that if you work 35 hours one week and 25 hours another, you could still be classified as eligible for insurance if your average exceeds 30 hours.

Conversely, if you try to adjust your hours between two part-time jobs, this averaging method could render those adjustments meaningless.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of last March, 72 percent of private sector workers had access to medical benefits at their jobs.

This figure is skewed towards full-time workers, so the access rate for part-time workers is significantly lower.

So where do people working two part-time jobs find insurance? Ultimately, they have to purchase individual insurance through the marketplace.

Last year, a study found that without subsidies, an individual insurance plan averaged about $590 per month.

Divided over four weeks, that adds about $135 per week. If you subtract that from the previously calculated part-time weekly earnings of $680, you end up with $545, which is actually lower than the $600 from the full-time job with insurance.

Moreover, the subsidies that were increased during the COVID period ended at the end of last year. Starting this year, the subsidy amounts have decreased, meaning the actual burden will inevitably increase.

Some people extend their previous insurance through COBRA when switching to two part-time jobs, but in this case, they have to bear the entire cost that the company used to cover, which can lead to a much higher expense than before.

You also can't overlook paid leave. Full-time jobs typically come with paid sick leave or vacation, but part-time jobs often do not offer either.

If you miss a day due to illness, you lose the entire day's pay from the part-time job, which is another aspect that can easily be overlooked in actual comparisons.

401(k) matching works the same way. If neither part-time job offers matching contributions, that money quietly accumulates as an unseen loss.

So what should you do? The answer is simple: don't just compare hourly wages; you need to calculate your net pay including insurance premiums.

If a full-time job includes the company covering part of the insurance premium, that amount should also be added to the salary for an accurate comparison.

Personally, I tend to favor the full-time option even if the hourly wage is slightly lower, as I believe it's better than facing a large medical bill later on.

This isn't to say that living with two part-time jobs is bad; rather, it means that if you neglect to factor in health insurance, you might regret it later.