What really contributed to the massive rise in UK employment?

Some good news on employment today. The unemployment rate is down to 6.9%, the number of people in work has risen by 691,000 in the past year – the biggest year-on-year increase since 1989.  The number of people in work has hit a record high and the number of hours worked by people in the UK has also risen healthily. That this comes alongside an increase in earnings growth is further evidence of Britain’s economic recovery.

But where has this employment actually come from? This chart might help.

As you can see, the answer is: largely the self-employed and part-time workers. Indeed, together they contributed for an increase in one million workers since the start of 2008. The number of full-time employees is still lower today than at the start of the crisis in 2008.