According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) the number of people working part time or on temporary contracts because they cannot find full time work (known as “underemployment”) is the highest since 1992. Some 1.46 million people are now officially underemployed, 18.5 per cent of the workforce.
Even for full time work separate TUC research indicates that 80 per cent of the jobs created in the last five years have been in low wage sectors, typically retail, restaurant and residential care, with an hourly rate of less than £8. ■