INSECURE Britain is on the rise, Labour insisted today, claiming that workers on controversial zero-hours contracts were being paid 40% or £6 less per hour than other employees.
Today at a summit, involving businesses and trade unions, Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary, will highlight the plight of those on zero-hours contracts. which give employees no guarantees of shifts or work patterns.
He pointed out how official data showed those on these contracts were not only working fewer hours each week but were also being paid far less for each hour they worked. The average hourly wage of those on zero-hours contracts was £9 per hour compared with £15 per hour for employees not on zero-hours contracts.
The Labour frontbencher also highlighted how earlier this month the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that as many as one million people at work could be employed on zero-hours contracts, four times as many as the most recent Office of National Statistics figure of 250,000.
This week, Mr Umunna wrote to Sir Andrew Dilnot, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, to raise concerns that official figures did not reflect the true scale of zero-hours contracts.
Trade unions have pointed to how the contracts are increasingly being used - from care home workers to college lecturers and nurses.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who has expressed concern at worker exploitation, has ordered a review of zero-hours contracts.
"David Cameron says he's fixed the economy but for hard-working families things are getting harder not easier," said Mr Umunna. "For too many, things have become more difficult and less secure as they face a cost of living crisis in David Cameron's Britain."
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