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.
