The number of people in insecure work has reached a record high of 4.1 million, according to new TUC analysis.
The analysis of official statistics shows the number of people in precarious employment – such as zero-hours-contracts, low-paid self-employment and casual/seasonal work – increased by nearly one million between 2011 and 2023.
Over that period insecure work rose nearly three times faster than secure forms of employment. While the numbers in insecure work increased by 31%, those in secure employment increased by just 11%.
The growth in insecure work since 2011 has been fuelled mainly by lower-paid sectors of the economy.
People on zero-hours contracts earn over a third (35%) less an hour, on average, than workers on median pay.
And the pay gap between workers in seasonal (-33%) and casual (-37%) work and median earners is also stark.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said:
“We need a government that will make work pay.
“But over the last 14 years we have seen an explosion in insecure, low-paid work.
“The UK’s long experiment with a low-rights, low-wage economy has been terrible for growth, productivity and living standards.
“Real wages are still worth less than in 2008, and across the country people are trapped in jobs that offer little or no security.”
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