Labour Manifesto: Insecure jobs
16 May 2017
“Just look at the last seven [years of Conservative government]... More people are in work but they’re not getting the pay or the hours to make ends meet.”
- The number of people in employment in the UK is historically high, as is the proportion of people in work. At the beginning of 2017 almost 32 million people were in work and a larger proportion of working-age people had a job of some description than had ever been recorded before.
- From the statistics, it doesn’t seem like unwanted part-time work or unsatisfactory temporary work has been the major driver behind the growth in employment.
- The proportion of workers who simply can’t find permanent or full-time jobs did increase after the recession but it’s been falling for the past few years now.
- Between 1-2% of people in employment say they have a temporary job mainly because they can’t find a permanent one. About 3% of UK workers say they work part-time mainly because they can’t find a full-time job.
- The picture for specific industries, regions and groups might be different. These statistics will only ever give a limited insight into questions about job quality.