PRESS RELEASE: 4 people chasing every part-time job

• 600,000 people are actively seeking jobs with part-time hours …²
• …but don’t have enough roles to apply for: just 12 per cent of job vacancies in the UK offer part-time hours (156,000).³
• Most of these offer a low rate of pay.⁴
• 8.4m people now work part-time in the UK because they need to – whether to fit work with raising children, ill health, getting older, managing disabilities or caring for relatives – accounting for a quarter of the UK workforce.
• This is a huge increase from just five years ago (5.8m).⁵
• Many of these people feel trapped in roles beneath their level of skill and ability and would move jobs if more decently paid part-time roles were available.
• Social enterprise Timewise is urging employers to offer part-time options up front in job ads to tap into this diverse pool of talent.
• Statistics come from the 8th annual Timewise Flexible Jobs Index©, released today (29.11.22): analysis of 6 million UK job ads, to see what portion are offered with flexible options.³
• Timewise produces the Index to cover a gap in labour market reporting by the Office for National Statistics.
• Today’s Index has been released with supplementary research that probes employers on WHY they DON’T include flex options in job ads more often.⁶
• Backed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Lloyds Banking Group.
   

London, 29 November 2022:  The volume of people wanting part-time work is outstripping available part-time jobs 4:1, says social enterprise Timewise, in a complete inversion of the wider UK job market, whereby record numbers of vacancies remain unfilled, and employers report that they are struggling to hire.¹

The mismatch between the size of the jobs market for part-time roles, and the growing volume of candidates who need such jobs is a key feature of the 8th annual Timewise Flexible Jobs Index© published today.

More than half a million people (600,000) are specifically seeking part-time work and competing over an estimated 156,000 decently paid part-time jobs.¹

There is a far larger market of latent potential talent, too.  As our workforce ages and post-pandemic more people are balancing work due to caring or ill health, the number of people in the UK working part-time to fit with something crucial in life such as caring responsibilities or ill health has grown from 5.8m in 2017, to 8.4m in 2022 (a 45 per cent increase in 5 years).⁵  

Timewise say many feel stuck in roles far beneath their level of skill, experience and potential earnings.

The annual Timewise Flexible Jobs Index© analyses 6 million UK job ads to ascertain what portion of UK jobs offer flexible working options. It is produced by the social enterprise Timewise to try fill a knowledge gap in the Office for National Statistics’ own reporting data.

The wording of job ads are scrutinised for any reference to one of 19 keywords pertaining to flexible working, such as: ‘remote working’, ‘home working’, ‘job share’, ‘flexible shifts’ and ‘part-time’.³

This year the Index finds that just 3 in 10 UK job ads list any kind of flexible working options (30 per cent). This is just a 4 per cent increase upon last year. Furthermore:

• Part-time is offered in just 12 per cent of UK job vacancies (1 in 8).
• When you do see part-time, it is most prevalent in the lowest pay bands (22%), but falls by nearly half in roles offering more than £20k FTE (to 12%)…⁴
• …creating the low pay ‘part-time trap’ for groups who need such jobs.
• Part-time work is offered in just 6% of job adverts for £60k FTE or more.⁴
• Despite the fact that 1 in 5 people now work regularly from home, just 12 per cent of job ads offer hybrid working.³
• Home-working (or hybrid working) is offered more often at higher salary levels, peaking at 21% for roles paid £60k-£79k.⁴
• It is an option in only 4% of the lowest paid jobs.⁴
• Flexible working (where the form of flex is unspecified) has a flatter pattern across the salary bands, but is also highest for roles paid £60k-£79k.⁴

Why don’t more employers offer flex in job ads?

This year’s research includes an additional piece of analysis: an assessment of the potential impact on living standards, job mobility, under-employment and business access to talent and skills, should more decently paid jobs get advertised with part-time options.

This analysis is backed by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.⁶

It includes a survey of 1,000 employers to establish why flexible hiring isn’t more commonplace, with 20 follow-up qualitative interviews.⁶

Key findings:

• 39 per cent of employers (nearly 2 in 5) say they have never offered flexible working within a job ad.⁶
• The most common reason cited is ‘wanting to wait to negotiate flexibility post hire’ (24 per cent), followed by ‘we only offer flexible working to employees once we have got to know them’ (21 per cent).⁶
•  Yet, this is a huge missed opportunity, particularly in terms of gender equality as 2 in 5 women will not apply for jobs, if they are not advertised with flexible working possibilities.⁷
  
  

What does this mean for living standards?

Creating more quality part-time jobs could be a simple fix to raising the living standards of over half a million people.

The lack of openly advertised flexible jobs puts parents, older workers and people with disabilities at particular disadvantage. 

Timewise estimates that more than half a million people in the UK specifically from these groups (521,000) are either out of work or in roles far beneath their true earning potential.

Furthermore, analysis by the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) on behalf of Timewise suggests that rates of poverty could be greatly impacted if more roles are advertised with flexible working options.⁸

Emma Stewart MBE, co-founder of Timewise comments:
“‘Trapped’ part-timers would apply in a heartbeat if they saw better part-time jobs available. They represent a deep, hidden pool of talent. Many are skilled and experienced. However, trying to attract them without including part-time options within the wording of your job ad is like going fishing without a net. If more employers tried offering quality jobs as flex from Day One, not only would they widen and diversify their talent pool, but they could help contribute to raising the living standards of thousands of people.”

Louise Woodruff, Senior Policy Adviser at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation says:
“This analysis shows the profound mismatch between the jobs people need, want and can deliver productively, and the jobs employers are offering by default. When we know that many employers are struggling to recruit, part-time and flexible work is something many more should be open to and our government should be supporting.

“Work should be a reliable route out of poverty, but too often it isn’t due to a lack of flexibility. This excludes many skilled and motivated people who need to balance work with other responsibilities or work flexibly due to ill health. Many employers benefit not only from employing people on a part-time or flexible basis but also from being able to attract a more diverse range of applicants by offering flexibility up front.”

Fiona Cannon, Group Sustainable Business Director, Lloyds Banking Group says:
“We are proud to support the Timewise Flexible Jobs Index 2022, which is now in its eighth year. At Lloyds Banking Group, we have taken a pro-active approach to agile working and recruitment for many years now and over 96% of our jobs offer a flexible option. Following the pandemic, we’re embedding new hybrid ways of working across our business, giving many of our colleagues the opportunity to benefit from a balance between home and office, in addition to other flexible options, such as job sharing. Flexible working is open to all, not just parents or carers – colleagues can use it as they need it, for example to study, volunteer or pursue a passion. Becoming a more agile organisation benefits everyone and is helping us to both meet the changing demands of our customers and attract new and diverse talent.”

ENDS

For more information, copies of the two reports or case studies please contact Jo Burkill on 07960 472097 or jo.burkill@timewise.co.uk.

Notes to editors

¹ The Office for National Statistics does not collect data on how many vacancies are advertised with part-time or flexible options. The purpose of Timewise’s Flexible Jobs Index© is to fill this knowledge gap. This year’s Index, which is based on a sample of 6 million UK job ads, found that 12 per cent, or 1 in 8 jobs offered part-time working options.  We have applied that rate to the 1.3m unfilled UK vacancies reported on by the ONS in June 2022, to make the reasonable assumption that there must be approximately 156,000 part-time vacancies in the UK. We know from ONS data that 600,000 people in the UK are actively searching for part-time jobs – hence there are 4 people chasing every 1 part-time job.

² 600,000 people in the UK are actively searching for part-time jobs right now, according to ONS data.  500,000 are not in work and seeking part-time, specifically. 100,000 are working full-time but would prefer to find a part-time job. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/labour-force-survey-annual-summary-report-2021

³ About the research: The Timewise Flexible Jobs Index© 2022 is based on analysis of over 6 million job adverts, posted in the period 01 January 2022 to 30 June 2022. The data source is Lightcast, and job adverts were filtered using 19 keywords relating to different forms of flexible working. The following types of contracts have been excluded from the analysis where it has been possible to identify them: self-employed, freelance, zero hours, commission only and temporary posts. Timewise has excluded all jobs paid less than £18,500 per annum (a proxy for the UK living wage rate, at the time of the analysis, of £9.50 per hour). It found that:
1 in 8 jobs offer part-time options (12 per cent)
1 in 8 jobs offer home-working (12 per cent).
1 in 10 jobs offer unspecified ‘flexible work’ (10 per cent)
Just 3 per cent offer flexible shifts

What do we mean by ‘flexible job’? In this report, ‘flexible job’ means any advertised vacancy that is either part-time or offers home-working, hybrid working, flexible start and finish times, flexible shift patterns, remote working, term-time, or jobshare. Additionally, jobs that offer ‘flexible working’ or ‘agile working’ are tracked; these tend to be full-time jobs where the employer is open to flexible working patterns by arrangement with the candidate.

⁴ The research found that part-time is fairly common amongst the lowest paid jobs (22%), but falls by nearly half above £20k FTE (to 12%) and is offered in only 6% of job adverts at £60k FTE or more.

Conversely, home-working (or hybrid working) is offered more often at higher salary levels, peaking at 21% for roles paid £60k-£79k. It is an option in only 4% of the lowest paid jobs.

Flexible working (where the form of flex is unspecified) has a flatter pattern across the salary bands, but is also highest for roles paid £60k-£79k.

⁵ Source: Labour Force Survey 2020-2021 https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/labour-force-survey-annual-summary-report-2021.

⁶  The supplementary research is entitled: ‘Can a more flexible jobs market raise the status and pay of part-time workers?’. Methodology: Using labour market data (Labour Force Survey 20/21,) Timewise looked at the impact on rates of poverty for parents, older workers and people with disabilities if a greater number of better paid part-time jobs were available. The analysis calculated how many of these groups have the qualifications and skills to do a quality-part time job, but are currently not, because they are either out of work or under-employed.  Timewise also surveyed 1,000 senior decision makers within businesses on offering flexible working in job adverts, and looked at whether any interventions could persuade them to change their practice, and additionally conducted qualitative, in-depth interviews with 20 employers.

⁷  From ‘Denied and discriminated against: the reality of flexible working for working mums’, published by the TUC in October 2021 https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/denied-and-discriminated-against

⁸ Analysis by IES on behalf of Timewise combining data from FRS and HBAI suggests that if more quality part-time jobs were advertised the following groups would see their rates of poverty positively impacted:
Single parents.
Older worker.
People with disabilities.

There are 521,000 people in these groups, who have the qualifications to earn above the minimum pay threshold (assessed to be above £11.17 per hour, which equates to £20k FTE).  want to work part-time, but are either workless or working at a lower pay level. Of these 122,000 people are workless.

All else staying constant, poverty rates would fall significantly if workless people seeking part-time work had access to more quality part-time jobs. For workless single parents, the poverty rate could potentially fall from 70 percent to 10 percent; for coupled parents, from around 70 percent to 45 percent; for households with a disabled person from around 57 percent to around 7 percent; and for older people from around 56 percent to 13 percent.