TUC comment on full-time employment claim

The Trades Union Congress have replied to our request for a comment on their analysis of the growth in full-time employment.

Employment is higher now than it was before the recession: there are 1.1m more people employed now.

The TUC release—and subsequent news reports—stated that of that 1.1m, only one in 40 people are full-time employees.

This is true if measuring from before the recession to this summer. But if we start instead from the 2010 election, over 830,000 people have been added to the ranks of full-time employees.

The TUC say that they measured this period to "understand whether or not there are significant changes in the profile of the economy, and the workforce, before and after the recession".

They go on to say that "it is natural that ministers will more often focus their statements on the period for which they are responsible since their election in 2010. But we hope they would agree that the goal for the UK still needs to be a full recovery in respect of the period prior to the recession".

Finally, they note that if they were to make the same measurement with the most recent data (published on December 17th) it "changes the headline number we used of 1 in 40 net new jobs to around 1 in 11".

Their full reply can be read here.