The right to work, part or full time

The growing proportion of the workforce in part-time employment ( Unemployment figures inch lower as thousands forced to go part-time , 15 July) is a very negative development, particularly as much of it seems to be involuntary. Our research across 22 workplaces in England showed that more than half of the part-time workers were employed "below their potential". Part-time workers tend to under-use their qualifications and work experience, because part-time jobs are invariably those that offer little opportunity for promotion or for transfer to full-time work. They are low-paid and restricted to specific tasks. This is not an argument against part-time working. On the contrary, it can be an excellent way to combine employment with other demands on our time. Higher-paid workers who voluntarily negotiate part-time hours but maintain their status and pay can thus benefit. But the vast majority of part-time jobs are not in this category. We must end the distinction between part-time and full-time, which largely restricts part-time working to low-quality jobs. This growth in part-time employment will only further entrench in-work poverty and limit opportunities. Dr Linda Grant Senior lecturer in social policy, Sheffield Hallam University • I was sorry to see the phrase "forced to go part-time" used in the headline on Katie Allen's useful analysis of the New Economics Foundation's detailed work. Being forced to work full or overtime is a much bigger injustice in terms of equality. Women know that working part time is the only way to manage life – that is life that also includes caring, cooking, shopping, cleaning and so on. Why should we assume that, when a greater proportion of men as well as women work fewer hours, the economic recovery, or indeed the GDP, will somehow be damaged? The trend may reduce some of the gendered pay inequalities shown up when employees in the financial services sector put in ridiculous 12-hour days and in return receive grossly inflated bonuses. Maybe both children and dads (or granddads) would welcome being able to meet at the end of the school day and go home to tea together. Maybe we should redefine work and re-evaluate part-timers. Helen Jackson Commissioner, Women's National Commission • With 5.5 million young people under 25 out of work across the EU, youth unemployment is one of most pressing problems facing Europe today. The number of graduates chasing every job has surged to nearly 70, and the number of vacancies available is predicted to fall by 7%. We are facing dire social and economic consequences. Young victims of the recession are more at risk of long-term social exclusion and health problems. I endorse the recommendations of a recent report from my fellow MEP Emilie Turunen. She has called for a European youth guarantee to secure the right of every young person in the EU to be offered a job, an apprenticeship or additional training after a maximum period of four months' unemployment. With active measures and appropriate support, we can begin to turn Generation Lost into Generation Hope. Jean Lambert MEP Green Party • Hayley Taylor and Decca Aitkenhead are missing (or avoiding) the point ( 'I've felt what the unemployed feel' , G2, 12 July). The purpose of service providers such as A4E is not to help people to find jobs, for the Jobcentre and commercial employment agencies already exist to do exactly that. Their purpose is to convince those of the working class who have no work that it is entirely their fault that they are unemployed, and not the fault of those in the City who have exported British jobs to China, India and Asia, sold British companies to foreign interests, and taken fat bonuses for doing so. The Fairy Jobmother is an obscenity, a freak-show for the middle class to gawp at, and I am surprised and deeply depressed to see it receive favourable column inches in the Guardian. However, it is true that we in the UK seem to be living in a fairyland that becomes darker and more threatening as its distance from reality increases day by day. Dick Bentley South Ferriby, Lincolnshire