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Rise in the under-employed
The number of people who are under-employed is over a million higher than it was before the recession.
Analysis by the TUC of the Labour Force Survey reveals that across the UK, the number of people who count as under-employed — people working part-time because they can’t get a full-time job, or wanting more hours in their current job — has continued to increase as the economy apparently recovers.
The analysis shows that while unemployment has fallen by over 400,000 since early 2012, under-employment has risen by 93,000.
At close to 3.4 million, the current level of under-employment is over a million higher than it was before the recession. The figure was just over 2.3 million in early 2008.
The TUC has pointed to the figures as providing further proof that the government’s much-vaunted economic recovery is not being felt by most people.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “With more jobs being created, you’d expect that under-employment would be on the wane too. But sadly with part-time, temporary, low-paid jobs often the only work that people can get, under-employment remains stubbornly high and is still rising.”
Analysis undertaken for the TUC also shows that average income growth is now at record lows. This is explained both by the increase in under-employment and an increase in the proportion of lower-paid jobs in the economy.