WORKERS are more productive and prosperous than when the Queen came to the throne 60 years ago, but stress has increased, millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost and there has been a huge increase in part-time employment, according to new research.

The number of company personnel jobs has increased 20-fold since the 1950s, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) also found.

A report to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year showed dramatic changes in the world of work and industry, with fewer skilled manual workers and more managerial, professional and technical jobs, as well as more pay inequality.

The number of people in work has increased by six million to 29 million, but one in four people are part-timers, compared to just four per cent in the 1950s.

The value of output produced by the economy has quadrupled since 1952, but work-related stress has increased and the rapid advance of technology has resulted in information "overload", said the CIPD.

The number of manufacturing jobs has fallen from 8.7 million to 2.5 million, while trade union membership has slumped by three million to 6.5 million.

John Philpott, the CIPD's chief economic adviser, said: "In the six decades of Queen Elizabeth's reign, work has continued to be the warp and weft of everyday life."