There has been a massive increase (45%) in the number of part-time workers according to recent research from the Institute for Public Policy (IPP).
There are now more than one million people in the UK working on a part-time basis because they are unable to find a full-time position. The number of temporary workers, including umbrella company employees, who can’t find permanent jobs has also increased to 40%.
According to the IPP. there are approximately 2.51 million people out of work in the UK but 27,100 less people claimed benefits in April than in March 2010.
Kevin Green, from the REC, thinks that reducing unemployment must be the central priority for the new coalition. He also believes that we have not seen the high rates of unemployment that some of our European counterparts have experienced because of our flexible jobs market. Green reiterated the RECs view that reform rather than short-term cuts is needed to shake up the public sector.
The REC’s Manifesto, which was launched earlier this year, calls on the government to reform the public sector and improve the regulatory environment. In particular they want to see a review of the Agency Workers Directive and the new pensions regulations which are due to come into force next year. If these measures are adopted in their current form they could seriously jeopardise the flexible jobs market according to the REC.
The British Chamber of Commerce expects the jobless total to rise to 2.65 million by the end of 2010 and at least some rise is inevitable as the Treasury plans to cut £6 billion from the government purse.
Some councils are already taking steps to reduce expenditure. Regional recruitment portals are being set up by some local authorities that will enable people seeking work to look and apply online for council vacancies. The South-East council portal will be the first to go live in July, followed by the South-West and East Midlands. The regional director of SEE, Jennifer McNeill, believes that this will cut down recruitment costs and raise the profile of individual councils.
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