AS Macro Key Term: Under-employment

Under-employment happens when people want to work full time but find that they can only get part-time work – the result is a loss of hours that the economy can use and a reduction in supply-side production capacity. This is a common feature of a recession or a slowdown in economic growth which causes a reduction in the number of full-time job vacancies.Total part-time employment in the UK has expanded by nearly two million since the early 1990s. Partly this reflects a shift towards a more flexible labour market - the demand for part-time flexible work patterns often times comes from both employees and employers.