A full-time part-time job

By DAN ATKINSON, MAIL ON SUNDAY ECONOMICS EDITOR
Updated: 19:00 EST, 15 May 2004

SOMETHING strange is happening to the British working week, according to latest official figures. Full-timers are working less while part-timers are staying at work for longer.

If the trend continues, the distinction between full-time and part-time jobs could narrow to vanishing point.

In 1995, according to the May issue of Labour Market Trends, the average full-time working week totalled 38.7 hours. By 2003, that had shrunk by 3.36% to 37.4 hours.

By contrast, part-timers toiled for just 15.1 hours a week in 1995, rising 3.31% to 15.6 hours by last year.

Looking at just male workers, the drop in full-time hours worked has been more marked, though the number of hours worked is still higher than for the whole workforce. In 1995, men worked 40.8 hours but now work just 39.1.

Men employed part-time have pushed up their working week by 4.76% from 14.7 hours to 15.4.

Women have reduced their full-time hours from 34.4 in 1995 to 34.1 in 2003 - a modest 0.87%. Part-time hours worked by females went from 15.2 hours to 15.7. Women are catching up with men in the hours they put into second jobs.

Between 1995 and 2003, average hours for men in second jobs went from ten to 10.2 hours, a two% increase, while hours for women went from 8.5 to 8.7, a 2.35% rise.

But this extra work has not stopped the general drift towards a shorter working week. In 1995, workers of all descriptions put in an average of 33.4 hours a week. That has since dropped 3.89% to 32.1 hours.

Richard Pearson, director of the Institute for Employment Studies, said: 'Economic growth is putting pressure on part-timers to work longer hours.

'The distinction between full and part-time employment is becoming increasingly meaningless.'