Monday, December 25, 2006

[recipe] for disaster, that is

Ingredients

1] An ambitious, aspiring, upwardly mobile couple on bog standard salaries;
2] A shopaholic who knows the price of everything;
3] A society which has been weaned off cash-in-hand and onto credit;
4] Cynical setting [by the financial sector] of the unit cost of goods higher than the unit hourly value of labour;
5] Households in hock with the house, car, refrigerator, television and everything on finance.

Method

Stir the mixture, serve up a la divorce court and voila – this is what you have:

One in four workers in the UK has a second job to help pay off debts or keep up with the everyday cost of living, according to a survey. More than half of those questioned worked for an extra 10 hours a week on top of their regular jobs, friendly society Liverpool Victoria reported.

Paying off debts, saving for a holiday and paying household bills were the main reasons for holding down two jobs. The study investigated the work patterns of 1,000 adults across the UK.

Workers in the south-west of England were the most likely to have a second job, followed by those in Scotland and the English East Midlands, Liverpool Victoria said. By contrast, workers in the east of England were the least likely to have two jobs. In total, more than one in six of those questioned said they worked at least 21 hours a week on top of their regular occupation.

"With an estimated savings gap in the UK of at least £27bn, it is concerning that so many Britons work extra hours in a second job, yet still don't save anything for the future," said Nigel Snell, Liverpool Victoria's head of external affairs.

[Once again, sorry but this came out before my blogging days and therefore I have no link. It’s entitled Workers Turning to Second Jobs and is from BBC News from Monday, February 20th, 2006]

Update and hat tip to Martin. Article URL:

1 comment:

  1. James,

    The relevant page's URL is

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4729550.stm

    ReplyDelete

Comments need a moniker of your choosing before or after ... no moniker, not posted, sorry.