Unemployment falls as men are forced to accept part-time work

The numbers of people having to take part-time work because they have given up trying to find a full-time post has rocketed by 15 per cent in the last year, the Office of National Statistics figures showed.

Men account for all the rise, with 15,000 more males in Scotland now among the ranks of the part-time workforce compared to this time last year.

In total, the figures show that part-time work now accounts for 27 per cent of all jobs, a major shift in working habits.

The growing trend emerged yesterday as figures showed an unexpected fall in overall unemployment in the UK and Scotland, up-ending predictions that the double-dip recession and public-sector cutbacks would trigger a fresh spike in dole queues. However, with the euro crisis threatening to spill over once again, politicians and business figures struck a cautious note, saying there could be no room for complacency over the economy.

And economists said last night that the drop in unemployment across the UK was almost all accounted for by the surge in part-time labour.

Daniel Solomon, an economist with the Centre for Economics and Business Research, said: “On the face of it, today’s reported declines in unemployment are encouraging. But, scratch the surface, and the real story is much less inspiring. Job creation was driven exclusively by rises in part-time employment.”

In Scotland, of the 662,000 people working part-time, the ONS figures yesterday showed that 114,000 are doing so because there are no full-time jobs available. The figure at the end of 2007, prior to the credit crunch was just 61,000.

While women continue to make up the bulk of the part-time workforce, the numbers of men in part-time labour has gone up from 150,000 in the year ending September 2010 to 165,000 a year later.

Ken Macintosh, Labour’s finance spokesman, said last night: “The worrying increase in the number of men who are being forced to accept part-time hours comes on top of huge numbers losing their job altogether. People are accepting a cut in hours in an effort to keep their job, but that of course comes at a price. “

In Scotland, there are now 221,000 unemployed people in Scotland, up from 208,000 this time last year, but down from 231,000 compared to the last quarter. The figures show that a total of 142,000 are officially claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance, up 3,000 on a year ago. The number of people in work stands at 2,482,000, up 24,000 over the quarter to March.

There were also worrying figures on long-term youth unemployment. In Scotland, a total of 5,600 18 to 24-year-olds have now been out of work for more than a year, compared to only 1,500 this time last year – an increase of 273 per cent.