The irrestible rise of the part time worker?
12 May 2010
The figures on the economy have disguised the major increase in the “midworker” an increasing number of people who work part time because the job markets remain flat. There has been a 45% increase in part time workers since the recession began. New research says that the number of people who have taken part time jobs because of the lack of full time jobs has increased to record levels. It may well lead to a generation of workers in jobs who can barely enough to meet expenses. Researchers suggest that this growth in midworking costs the economy £9 billion.
The think tank the IPPR says the recession has hit the poorest hardest. Employment for people with fewer than five GCSEs has fallen by more than 8% since the recession began – far higher than other groups – and the thinktank says Britain's experience is likely to mirror the US, where there is much higher "underemployment" among less educated, lower skilled and lower income households. In the US, studies have shown this contributes to a "high and rising degree" of income inequality and growing poverty.
It’s been pointed out that more than one in five involuntary part-time workers are aged between 16 and 24. Young workers in particular are victims of this growing trend and there is danger that their long-term employment prospects will be badly affected. The large number of underemployed workers does not attract as much attention as those who have no work at all, but this hidden phenomenon is in many ways just as big a problem.
Economists also say that a number of factors have led to the rise in midworkers. One is that firms have held on to workers during the economic downswing, preferring to cut hours rather than numbers. Another is that more generous tax credits have given rise to in-work benefits, which could end up subsidising part-time work. When I read History at York I read of a system of social welfare called the “Speenhamland” in which bread to use lowering wages. I have always felt that the present WTC/CTC schemes are the modern day successor
Today Sentinel rather proves the point where many of the jobs advertised is part time especially in social care, teaching and nursing. My view is that we cannot build the base for the future growth of the area on such a fragile base.
You raise a really important
You raise a really important issue here Bill,
I worry about the rise in agency work, especially in relation to young people who need a stable environment and time in which to grow and develop. Far too often people are simply seen as a resource rather than as a human being and as soon as we dehumanise any situation that involves people the outcome tends to be mainly negative in my view.
I know a young named Stuart
I know a young named Stuart who works for Kerrygold in leek and works for an agency. He was telling me that he was working on a day by day basis. It sounds a bit like "on the waterfront". His position is replicated thosands of times in this area. This is tthe what happens with the flexibility of labour. The collapsing role of the trade union and the increasing casualisation of labour will probably increase this tendency. I suppose a second question is what happens to the trade union in this climate.
Idealists...foolish enough to throw caution to the winds...have advanced mankind and have enriched the world
www.billcawleyresearch.co.uk
Nowt the matter with part
Nowt the matter with part time work, love working part time I do, its what the min wage brings, good pay and a bit of time to enjoy other things. As for agency, no, don't like it, I agree with Bill, it smacks of 'On The Waterfront', a sort of deprestion era mantalerty that I find most upsetting to see, it uses people, people have no rights, just slung back out when the day is over. You want to work, fine, but anyone's worth batter then that, just a cheep way of getting the job done, with as little effort shown from the employer as they can get away with, dreadful when you think about it. This temp thing may indeed be the thing why so many youngsters are unemployed, they have no time to pick up working skills before they are let go and given the next pile of s**t to hump into a van.
Caring for the city and all within it.
Yes I think this is a big
Yes I think this is a big problem. Nothing wrong with part time work if that's what you want. But not so good if you're taking it because you'd prefer full time but can't get it and actually really need the full time to get enough pay to best cater for your family's needs and struggle on the part time pay, but take it because it's better than unemployment.
I hugely agree with you Johnny that too often people are treated as human resource rather than human being. But if you treat people as mere tools it's likely they'll end up acting like tools! I don't think the hire and fire attitude, replacing people just as if you were buying a new outfit only because the fashion has changed, is good either for the people or the employer, only perhaps some employers would disagree. Similarly with agency work. What such an attitude creates is a workforce who barely know their little bit of the job, without any overall coherent view of their part in the team. There is a detachment there that can lead to lack of commitment and self centredness throughout the organisation, not necessarily by individual choice but as a consequence of the way the system is set up. This is what leads to daft decisions being made, on account of one part not having much of a clue what the other part is doing or drawing on their experience.
I agree with you Bill that this sort of basis is not sound enough to build on. In my view unions need to pay particular attention to part time and temporary staff and their working conditions, not only because they may suffer more, but because it can affect everyone.
In an ideal world all the workforce would be valued, treated well, consulted, work as a team and understand all their roles and how they fit together for the best functioning of the whole organisation and the well being of the individuals within it.
Nicky Davis - non-party political activist - a firm believer in grass roots democracy and strong local communities.
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