More than eight in 10 jobs created in Scotland since the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Government came to power are in low pay industries, according to new figures.
Independent analysis shows that 82per cent are in sectors such as cleaning, hairdressing and residential care, while the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also estimate that 60,000 Scots are now on controversial zero-hours contracts in their main work.
However, trade union leaders said the real figure could be much higher.
Critics of zero hours contracts warn that such workers earn around £300 a week less, on average than permanent staff.
Meanwhile, executive pay levels at FTSE 100 companies can average more than £440,000, 16 times more than the average worker, another report has found.
Campaigners said that low wages were driving a rise in "in-work poverty" in Scotland.
Labour, who obtained the figures on jobs in low pay industries, said that they showed that the Coalition Government was "standing up for the wrong people".
Analysis from the House of Commons Library shows that the total number of jobs in Scotland has increased by 27,000 since 2010.
Its research also found that the vast majority of these posts, 23,000, were in sectors singled out by the Low Pay Commission, which advisers ministers on the Minimum Wage.
Official figures also show that the number of zero-hours contracts across the UK has increased from 1.4 million to 1.8 million over the last year.
A separate report by the Trades Union Congress today (THU) shows that wages of members of executive pay committees at FTSE 100 companies average £441,383.
The highest paid committee member was paid more than £9m, 339 times more than average earnings.
It comes after the TUC revealed that one in five workers in Scotland are paid below the living wage of £7.65.
Peter Kelly, director of The Poverty Alliance, said the figures were disappointing but not surprising.
'Low quality, low wage work is rising, and in-work poverty is growing with it," he said.
'Governments need to start thinking about more than just the number of jobs, but also the type of jobs being created.
"If the economic recovery is not to repeat the mistakes of the past, we must ensure that equity is built into the fabric of our economy."
He also called on employers to step up and address issues of pay, training and discrimination.
Shadow Scottish Secretary Margaret Curran said that the huge proportion of new jobs in low paying sectors showed that the Coalition Government "stands up for the wrong people".
"They help out their friends who have been avoiding their taxes," she said.
"But don't help those who work hard, play by the rules, and don't even get a decent wage in return."
But Conservative Scotland Office minister David Mundell said that 107 new jobs a day had been created in Scotland in the last five years.
He accused Ms Curran of forgetting unemployment levels in Scotland when her party left office in 2010.
Unions have also campaigned against zero-hours posts, which offer no guarantees on hours or income, and which they say exploit workers who have no other options.
The Coalition Government is in the process of banning exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts.
Labour has said that it will ban exploitative zero-hours posts if they win May's General Election and the Scottish Government has been looking at ways to crack down on the contracts.
Conor D'Arcy, policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, warned many workers could find themselves both on low pay and in a zero-hours contract.
"While many workers don't mind being on a zero-hours contract, further policy action is needed to prevent them from becoming the standard form of employment in some low-paid sectors, such as social care," he added.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article