Part-timers on the increase
and on the move
The recession has
forced record numbers of workers into part-time jobs according to the Office
for National Statistics.
There are now 7.8
million part-time workers in the UK – the largest figure since records began 25
years ago. Over the last twelve months 468,000 less workers are employed in
full-time work but 255,000 have become part-time. The situation is expected to
deteriorate considerably as public sector job losses increase.
The Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has revealed that he is
planning to ‘relocate’ the unemployed to parts of the country where there is
work. His plans echo Norman Tebbit’s call for the jobless to ‘get on their
bikes’ to find work in the 1980s. “We can report an explosion of part-time
workers who are prepared to travel,” said Mark Nicholson, head of UK operations
of gold party organisers Ounces2Pounds.
“It is worth our while to pay travel expenses for skilled, part-time gold
traders,” said Mr Nicholson. “In some instances we are paying for
representatives to travel up to 500 miles a week.” Ounces2Pounds introduced the
American phenomenon of gold parties to Britain over a year ago and Mark
Nicholson is convinced that they have only scratched the surface of the UK
market. “The deeper the recession bites and the higher the spot price of gold
rises the more popular our parties become,” he said.
5 July 2010
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