Thread: Recession forces a million to work part-time

Recession forces a million to work part-time

Almost a million people are being forced to work part-time because they cannot get a full-time job, according to official figures that shed light on the hidden cost of the recession for thousands of families.

By Harry Wallop and Myra Butterworth
Published: 10:00PM BST 19 Jul 2009

Several major employers have offered staff reduced hours or extended holidays in an attempt to cut costs Photo: PA
In the past year more than 250,000 extra people who would like to be in full-time employment have found themselves working four days a week or fewer, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This is an increase of more than a third on the previous year, and illustrates the extent to which companies are trying to cope with the downturn by reducing staff hours, rather than just laying them off.

Several major employers have offered staff reduced hours or extended holidays in an attempt to cut costs. Earlier this month, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that BT had offered tens of thousands of its staff the right to take a holiday of up to a year if they took a 75 per cent pay cut.

British Airways has asked many of its staff to work part-time or for free.

When Britain’s biggest accountancy firm KPMG offered employees the opportunity to move to a four-day week, 86 per cent of staff signed up. Many of the City’s biggest law firms, including Norton Rose, are staffed by some part-time workers.

Manufacturers including Ford, Honda and JCB have also asked staff to work reduced hours.

The latest statistics indicate that, between March and May this year, a record 927,000 individuals were working fewer than 30 hours a week because they could not find a full-time job, a rise of 38 per cent on last year. The figures include new employees who have been hired on a part-time basis and existing staff who have been offered reduced hours. Separate figures released last week showed that unemployment had jumped to 2.38 million, with economists predicting it was inevitable that the total would exceed three million, matching the job crises of the early-1990s and 1980s.

This time round, however, the rise in unemployment has been accompanied by more dramatic changes in the labour market, with hundreds of thousands cutting their hours and pay in an attempt to hold on to their jobs.

Others are working well beyond retirement age because their pension pots have suffered from dramatic falls in the stock market.

Economists said that many more businesses were looking to restructure their workforce in similar ways, and expect further announcements later this year.

Corin Taylor, the head of policy at the Institute of Directors, said: “This recession has been marked by employers being very flexible. They are very keen to hold on to good people, even if that means freezing or cutting pay. And that has to be a good thing.

“But it does suggest that we are in a far more severe employment downturn than the headline jobless figures suggest.â€

Recession forces a million to work part-time

Almost a million people are being forced to work part-time because they cannot get a full-time job, according to official figures that shed light on the hidden cost of the recession for thousands of families.

By Harry Wallop and Myra Butterworth
Published: 10:00PM BST 19 Jul 2009

Several major employers have offered staff reduced hours or extended holidays in an attempt to cut costs Photo: PA
In the past year more than 250,000 extra people who would like to be in full-time employment have found themselves working four days a week or fewer, according to the Office for National Statistics.

This is an increase of more than a third on the previous year, and illustrates the extent to which companies are trying to cope with the downturn by reducing staff hours, rather than just laying them off.

Several major employers have offered staff reduced hours or extended holidays in an attempt to cut costs. Earlier this month, The Daily Telegraph disclosed that BT had offered tens of thousands of its staff the right to take a holiday of up to a year if they took a 75 per cent pay cut.

British Airways has asked many of its staff to work part-time or for free.

When Britain’s biggest accountancy firm KPMG offered employees the opportunity to move to a four-day week, 86 per cent of staff signed up. Many of the City’s biggest law firms, including Norton Rose, are staffed by some part-time workers.

Manufacturers including Ford, Honda and JCB have also asked staff to work reduced hours.

The latest statistics indicate that, between March and May this year, a record 927,000 individuals were working fewer than 30 hours a week because they could not find a full-time job, a rise of 38 per cent on last year. The figures include new employees who have been hired on a part-time basis and existing staff who have been offered reduced hours. Separate figures released last week showed that unemployment had jumped to 2.38 million, with economists predicting it was inevitable that the total would exceed three million, matching the job crises of the early-1990s and 1980s.

This time round, however, the rise in unemployment has been accompanied by more dramatic changes in the labour market, with hundreds of thousands cutting their hours and pay in an attempt to hold on to their jobs.

Others are working well beyond retirement age because their pension pots have suffered from dramatic falls in the stock market.

Economists said that many more businesses were looking to restructure their workforce in similar ways, and expect further announcements later this year.

Corin Taylor, the head of policy at the Institute of Directors, said: “This recession has been marked by employers being very flexible. They are very keen to hold on to good people, even if that means freezing or cutting pay. And that has to be a good thing.

“But it does suggest that we are in a far more severe employment downturn than the headline jobless figures suggest.â€