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.

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Tags: British Economy, Credit Crunch, Employment, Jobs, Money, Money Management, Office for National Statistics, Recession, Trades Union Council, UK Economy, unemployed, Unemployment

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, looking into a very bleak 2009 has come up with a very original plan to create jobs.

Brown’s idea already titled the “golden boarding pass” is to be announced at the forthcoming summit to be held at the Science Museum in London. The summit is due to be attended by leaders in the world of business and finance world as well as key players in the UK Trade Unions.

With UK unemployment figures creeping towards the two million mark, the Labour Government is pulling out all of the stops to halt the flow before it reaches the two million mark. The undoubted jewel in the crown of Brown’s original ideas is to offer employers a subsidy of £2,500 for every new employee that they take on and agree to retrain.

The “golden boarding pass” is just one of a flotilla of “innovative ideas” that the Prime Minister and his team at the Ministry of Employment have come up with to create employment through the recession which the UK is deeply and officially bogged down in.

Predictions for 2009 may be bad, say economic forecasters, but unless someone grabs the bull by the horns, and soon, 2010 will be even worse. Some economists believe that unemployment figures could be close to three million by summer 2010.

Prime Minister Brown has organised the summit to announce several plans that he and his team have created to stimulate the economy, and in areas where they have never ventured before. Their programme is designed to renew growth and create employment in such sectors as environmental technology, sophisticated manufacturing technology veering towards nanotechnology as well as in the public sector. In the public sector particular attention will be paid to the sadly understaffed and underfinanced areas of health care and education.

During the course of the summit, Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell is expected to announce details of a £500m scheme designed to help people who have been unemployed for more than six months to re-enter the work face with the aid of subsidies and generous retraining grants for employers in both the public and private sectors. .

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Tags: Employment, Employment summit, Finance, Financial News, Gordon Brown, Jobs, Retail, UK Recession