Wales Insecure at work |
Key points
- Throughout most of the last decade, almost half of the men, and a third of the women, making a new claim for Jobseeker's Allowance were last claiming this benefit less than six months previously. In other words, almost half of men who lose their job, and a third of women, had had that job for less than six months. This shows the short-term nature of the jobs that many unemployed people go into.
- Note that, although the proportions in 2010 were similar to that in earlier years (see first graph), the absolute numbers of people making a new claim for Jobseeker's Allowance who were last claiming this benefit less than six months previously were at a much high level (see second graph).
- The vast majority of part-time employees – 80% – do not want a full-time job. By contrast, only 25% of temporary employees do not want a permanent job. This suggests that, whereas part-time employment is generally a positive choice, temporary employment is often not.
- At 60,000, the number of people on temporary contracts is somewhat lower than a decade ago (note that the year-to-year fluctuations are more likely to be uncertainties arising from small sample sizes rather than real jumps).
- Only one in six workers earning less than £7 an hour belong to a trade union, a much smaller proportion than for those on higher earnings.
Graph 1: Job insecurity (proportions)
View Graph as PDF (resizeable) Right click to save large version of Graph as PNG
Graph 2: Job insecurity (numbers)
View Graph as PDF (resizeable) Right click to save large version of Graph as PNG
Graph 3: Temporary/part-time
View Graph as PDF (resizeable) Right click to save large version of Graph as PNG
Graph 4: Temporary contracts
View Graph as PDF (resizeable) Right click to save large version of Graph as PNG
Graph 5: Union membership
View Graph as PDF (resizeable) Right click to save large version of Graph as PNG
Definitions and data sources
The first graph tackles insecurity at work through the issue of people who find themselves taking a succession of jobs interspersed with periods of unemployment. It shows the probability that someone who makes a new claim for Jobseeker's Allowance was last claiming that benefit less than six months previously. This is effectively the same as the proportion of people finding work who then lose that work within six months. Figures are shown separately for men and women. The data for each year is taken from the first quarter of the Joint Unemployment and Vacancies Operating System (JUVOS) cohort (the data is not publicly available).
The second graph shows the same data but as actual numbers rather than as a proportion of new claimants for Jobseeker's Allowance. In times of reasonably constant unemployment, this graph would not add much value but it does provide extra information at a time of rising unemployment (as is the case in 2009). So, for example, the proportions in the first graph fell significantly in 2009 but, as the second graph shows, this is not because the numerator (i.e. the numbers in the second graph) fell but because the denominator (i.e. the total number of new claims for Jobseeker's Allowance) rose.
The third graph shows the principal reasons that people give for taking part-time work or temporary work. In each case, the main point of interest is those taking these forms of work who would prefer, respectively, full-time or permanent work.
The fourth graph shows the number of people on temporary contracts. A temporary employee is one who said that his/her main job is non-permanent in one of the following ways: fixed period contracts; agency temping; casual work; seasonal work; and other temporary work.
The fifth graph shows the proportion of people currently employed who are members of a trade union or staff association, with the data shown separately by level of pay.
The data source for the third to fifth graphs is the Labour Force Survey (LFS). In the third and fourth graphs, the data is the average for the latest three years. The figures in the fifth graph are for the fourth quarter of the latest year (the data is only collected in the fourth quarter).
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. While the claimant count data is sound, the narrow definition of unemployment that it represents means that it understates the extent of short-term working interspersed with spells of joblessness.