Is part time the new black?

The economic apocalypse has sped ahead a trend that seems to habe ingrained already that is the move away from full time for part time hours in many jobs. This is less damaging than say in the US of A where by if you are a part time worker they don't give you health insurance. Though this seems to be common in the low paid part of the jobs market. This shows a big serious financial blow to both the government's taxes and the people who are affected. When I worked as an accountant this seemed to be a trend which I had to adjust the employee figures for.

In fact its even worse in that although people may work less hours, those hours are spread over the week therefore the travel costs of a full time job are incurred for the pay of a part time job. So that people are squeezed on both sides!, the value of their free time is diminished and they still have to pay the full costs of getting to work. A week bus ticket or a year's road tax and insurance does not get cheaper because you work less hours. I dispair at this. The nightmare of zero hour contracts that plague the American jobs market seem destined to take root here too, the future looks rather bleak.

Next door neigbour lost his job today

My friend the guy next door, well not quite next door but a few doors down was handed his P45 today, he has been reduced from a 40K a year job as a printer manager down to that of a NMW warehouse assistant. Good on him but he is 62 years old and lugging boxes around in a warehouse.

I wonder how long this can continue..