Casualisation of workers has worrying impact on both their rights and the return to growth

CLEARLY it is encouraging that unemployment is falling since growth in the economy depends on employment rising and persistently high unemployment holds back growth.

However, it’s really worrying that we have this increasing casualisation, with a rise in part-time employment and a reduction in the rights of vulnerable workers.

What is also very worrying is that youth unemployment has remained largely static.

This could have a long-term effect on the young people affected as they fail to get into the habit of working.

The way to deal with this problem is to ensure that there is a persistent level of investment in training and skills.

Although it can be argued that it is better to have some job rather than no job at all, there is a concern that these part-time jobs are not creating particularly sustainable employment. There is also the question of how will young people in these part-time jobs get employment that is well paid enough to get on the housing ladder.

Economic growth comes about through spending, but if people do not have enough spending power because they are in poorly paid jobs, then there is a real negative effect in this area of the economy too.

Sectors like housing and construction are among those that are particularly affected by this lack of spending power.

There is still a problem with high levels of part-time employment among women, but it is now becoming a cross gender issue.

On the general unemployment picture, even though there is a fall in the numbers out of work, we are still seeing things bumping along the bottom.

We certainly can’t take the view that we are out of the woods with Scotland’s unemployment level.

There is still an issue with firms not being willing to take on more workers, which is probably why we will see a long and slow recovery rather than any miraculous movements.

However, Scotland does seem to have done better in terms of investment in its infrastructure and higher education than the rest of the UK, perhaps because of the different approach of the Scottish Government in this area of policy.

A key measure has to be to ensure that we keep creating training opportunities so that there are skilled people ready to fill vacancies when they arise.

• Dr W David McCausland is a senior lecturer in economics University of Aberdeen.