As Britain prepares to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in June there will be many comparative studies to mark the changes to the country over the last 60 years but none is likely to match the power of the survey published today by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. The CIPD is an international association for HR professionals and compiles statistics for its members.

In stark and unsentimental numbers it looks at British work life early in the Queen's reign and today.

The total number of Britons in work has risen from 23 million in 1959 to 29 million today. Sounds good. But breaking the numbers down further things aren't quite so rosy.

In 1959, 96 percent of working age men were employed. Only 4 percent worked part-time. Today, 75 percent of working age men are employed, 26 percent of them part-time.

When I first blogged about this yesterday I didn't expect I would be blogging about it again. But the Queen is a special case and her Diamond Jubilee is a special occasion.

What do you give to the monarch who has everything - or at least as much of everything that a modern constitutional ruler can expect to have?

This year marks the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne. That's 60 years of presiding over massive change, not least in how people perceive the Royal role and how much they are willing to pay her to play it.   The British tax-payer funds her official duties and pays for staff to carry them out.

Anyway, it's not the best year to have big celebrations. The Conservative-led coalition government's austerity measures are beginning to bite. Government spending is falling and unemployment is rising.