q: How old is Asci? a: 23 q: How long has she been working at the Atlanta movie theatre? a: eight years q: Does she work full time? a: no q: Does she have a degree? a: yes q: Where did she get it? a: Georgia State University q: What did she want to be? a: a photographer q: What did the unemployment rate drop from? a: 8.2% q: to what? a: 7.8% q: What did people hope that meant? a: economy is improving q: How many jobs added were part time? a: more than half q: where does Casillas work? a: a bank q: Where? a: Chicago q: full time? c: (CNN) -- Michelle Asci dreamed of capturing life through her camera lens. Asci had her sights set on being a photographer as she graduated with a bachelor of fine arts degree from Georgia State University in December. 

But the 23-year-old is not working as a photographer. She's at a concession stand, selling popcorn or ushering people into their respective theaters before the midnight screening. Asci's been working part-time at the same Atlanta movie theater since 2005. 

"It's going on to be eight years of this," she said. But working part-time at a movie theater was not what she saw herself doing with her degree, and she is not alone. 

Last month's surprising drop in U.S. unemployment rates from 8.2% to 7.8% gave many hopes that the economy is improving, and the lower rates even beat the expectations of some economists. But a breakdown of the latest jobs report shows that more than half of the jobs added this month are part-time. 

This leaves people like Asci wondering: Is the new American job part-time? 

From law dreams to data-entry 

Every day, Dolores Casillas holds her breath as she walks into the Chicago bank where she works part-time doing data entry. It's a temporary position, and she's heard her boss say time and time again that there might not be a job for her one of these days. 

"There was someone at my job who was working for only three weeks, and she came in one day and didn't have a job. It's nerve-wracking," she said. 
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