There is a certain kind of anger that doesn’t show up clearly in unemployment numbers. It’s for the person who works four days a week, not because they want to, but because that’s the only door that was open. Technically, they have jobs. That’s what they do. They might even sound good when someone asks how work is going. On the inside, though, they’re keeping track of their hours and figuring out what they need to do to make up for lost time, while also wondering when the full-time job they applied for might come open.
This is the trap of working part-time. And for a big part of the British workforce, it’s no longer a temporary situation but something that will always be the case.
These numbers aren’t brand new, but they’re important. Since the recession in 2008, over a million people in the UK have been recorded as working part-time, not because they wanted to, but because they couldn’t find full-time work. That number had reached 1.4 million by 2012, which was a record at the time. About one in five part-time workers who were forced to work were between the ages of 16 and 24. This group was especially at risk. That’s a group of people who learn quickly that the job market doesn’t always reward hard work or being available.
The fact that this is often hard to see makes it even harder to talk about. People pay attention when the unemployment rate goes up because the headline number changes. But underemployment, which means working fewer hours than you need to and getting paid less than your skills are worth, doesn’t usually set off the same alarm. According to research from the Institute for Public Policy Research, about 2.8 million people were underemployed, but they weren’t unemployed. They were not where they should have been.
The effects on a career can last for a long time. The Timewise Foundation did research that showed more than three quarters of part-time workers felt like they couldn’t move up in their jobs and were stuck at the same level as their full-time coworkers. About a quarter of them said they were already too qualified for the job they had. Seven out of ten had applied for jobs below their level and were willing to take lower pay in order to be flexible. The average amount of money given up was almost £7,000 a year. That’s not a small change. That’s a big hit to retirement plans, savings, and long-term financial security.
When workers, especially women who are returning to work after having children, ask for part-time or flexible hours, it often resets their professional standing in a subtle way. They have still got work to do. A lot of the time, they log on late at night and answer questions on days when they’re not supposed to be there. But when it’s time for an evaluation, the subject changes. Being seen is important. Hours show dedication, even if the results don’t support that conclusion.
About 12% of job ads in the UK have ever mentioned part-time work as an option. Just that number alone tells us a lot. You don’t have many options if the market isn’t giving you the flexibility you need. You take what’s there. You lower your hopes and expectations. Then, over time, it gets harder to close the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.
We should think about how much this hurts the economy as a whole. It’s not efficient for skilled workers to work below their capacity, take on roles below their level of qualification, or work multiple part-time jobs to make enough money to live on. The IPPR said that forced part-time work cost about £9 billion in lost wages and benefits. That’s not vague. That’s money that could be spent, taxes that could be paid, and economic activity that doesn’t happen.
There isn’t a simple answer that can be given. It took time for the part-time trap to show up, and it won’t go away quickly either. But it seems important to call it what it really is: a job market that isn’t creating enough of the right kinds of jobs, leaving qualified people to do whatever is available. NOT as a story about flexibility OR work-life balance.
