THE LATEST EUROSTAT release shows that in the EU28 population of people aged between 15 and 74 in 2013, 43.7 million were part-time workers.

Of these, 9.9 million of the part-time workers were classed as “underemployed” meaning  they wish to work additional hours and are available to do so.

In Ireland, of the persons aged between that age bracket who are working in part-time work, 147,000 are classed as underemployed in part-time work, making up 32.7 per cent of the overall part-time workers in Ireland.

Workers

Looking at this group of workers in terms of Ireland’s total employed population, they make up 7.8 per cent of the workforce.

The information is based on report analysing the 2013 results of the European Labour Force survey.

The report finds that in Ireland there are 39,000 persons aged 15-74, available to work but not seeking who are neither employed nor unemployed who want to work and who are available to work in the next two weeks but do not seek work.

There is the potential therefore, for 2.6 per cent additional labour force, the report finds.

In 2013, the proportion of underemployed part-time workers among total part-time workers varied significantly among Member States, with the largest shares observed in Greece (72 per cent), Cyprus (59 per cent), Spain (57.4 per cent),
and Portugal (45.9 per cent).

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