For the first time since I started working over 20 years ago I have a part-time job. When I first decided to set up ProfessionalMums.net I knew I would need a flexible part-time job alongside it to keep paying the bills while the business grew. I do about two days a week for a publishing company putting out a bi-monthly magazine and newsletter.
I am part of the growing demographic of part-timers. The most recent labour force report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics full-time employment is on slowly decreasing—down 31,600 people to just over 8 million in the December 2013 quarter—while part-time work is on the up—it increased by 9,000 people to over 3.5 million in the same quarter.
Digging underneath those figures full-time employment fell for both men and women, while part-time employment for men also fell meaning that it was the increase in part-time employment for women that provided all the growth in the labour market.
The growth of part-time employment is a not a phenomenon just limited to Australia – it’s happening in most developed nations and there’s a couple of reasons why.
- Employers are working to tighter budgets: I hear this over and over again when talking to employers who no longer have the money for full-time positions
- Employers want more flexibility: Similar to the above, employers want a core permanent staff with an outer ring of talent that they bring on when they need it. Part-time workers that could potentially do more hours when the business demands it are part of this outer ring
- Employees want more flexibility: It’s no surprise that women lead the way in talking on part-time roles. For mothers who need to combine a career with children set-time part-time work is the number on choice.
- Technology enables part-time work: The ability to work from anywhere at any time has been a factor in increased productivity and a boon for part-time workers.
- Changing workforce: We used to enter the workforce in our 20s with the idea of working full-time until retirement. But now we dip in an out of the workforce so focus on education, children or for other reasons. We also transition more slowly out of work into retirement, which is why we see part-time work increasing in particular in the 50+ men demographic.
As a first-time part-timer I’m a big fan – it’s giving me the flexibility to start up my own business but keeps me with one foot in the employed world which is perfect for me right now.
Up till now part-time work has generally been the domain of lower skilled work but I think a combination of the above factors means that we are going to see part-time options open up in the highly skilled professions.
This post was first published at professionalmums.net.