As people struggled to find permanent jobs in the economic downturn the part-time workforce reached record levels in the three months to May, official figures have shown.
Never since the Office for National Statistics (ONS) records began in 1992 has there been as many part-timers as there were in May, when the quarterly rise of 148,000 meant the total hit 7.82 million.
A record 27% of the total workforce is now in part-time employment the ONS said. The category accounted for the vast majority of the 160,000 rise in total employment - the biggest quarterly jump since August 2006.
The ONS added that the number of full-time employees fell by 22,000 over the month to 18.2 million.
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