In recession riddled UK, one job is not enough.

July 23rd, 2009 by tom | Filed under Daily News, Employment, Recession, UK employment.

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Even though they know they should be grateful, almost one million people in the UK are discovering that having one job is not enough. Facts are becoming increasingly clear that UK employers, themselves fighting to survive the long running financial crisis , are turning increasingly more toe the options of employing workers on a part time basis, as well as taking increased advantage of sending workers off on unpaid leave with an unlimited time frame.

A recent report from the Office for National Statistics announced that in the months March to May 2009, there were 927,000 people reportedly working part time simply because there were no full-time jobs available. This trend of part time work opportunities only by employers is on the increase, up by more than 30% from the same period in 2008 and at its highest level since 1992.

A spokesman for the Trades Union Council (TUC) announced that those forced to settle for part time employment were “the hidden tragedies of the recession”.

People who revert to part time employment or unpaid leave or not officially classed as being unemployed, although they will still feel the effects of reduced work hours in their salaries, and further slow down the already stagnant UK economy.

UK unemployment rose by a record 281,000 to 2.38 million in the three months to May, while the jobless rate increased to 7.6%, the highest in more than 10 years. Estimates are that the figure will reach 3 million by the end of 2009.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit increased by 23,800 in June to 1.56 million, which while less than analysts had forecast was still fairly critical.

There are reports, however, that an increasingly large number of Brits have taken advantage of the niche that part time jobs have provided and are actually holding down two and sometimes even three jobs to keep their income to a reasonable level.