Summary

Insecure work is bad for the workers involved and bad for the economy.

Zero-hours contracts are the most egregious example of one-sided flexibility at work where the employer has absolute power over whether and when to offer shifts.

This joint report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Race on the Agenda (ROTA) shows that disproportionate numbers of Black and minority ethnic (BME) workers are on zero-hours contracts. BME women are particularly likely to be on zero-hours contracts.

It also punctures the myth that zero-hours workers like the arrangement. In fact, most BME workers on variable-hours contracts would prefer to work fixed hours.

We need swift action from the government to ban the use of such contracts. It should give workers the right to contracts reflecting their normal hours of work and implement long-awaited plans to introduce ethnic minority pay gap reporting.

• Download full report (pdf)

Introduction

A zero-hours contract is one in which an employer is not obliged to provide a minimum number of hours.

New analysis contained in this report reveals that:

• nearly 160,000 BME workers are on zero-hours contracts, around one in six of the 1 million people who are on them, even though BME workers make up just one in nine employees
• one in 20 (4.5 per cent) women workers from a BME background are on such contracts, compared to just 2.5 per cent of white men
• more than half of BME workers on a variable-hours contract would like a fixed-hours contract. Just 27 per cent would prefer their existing arrangement.

Zero-hours contracts are the most egregious form of one-sided flexibility.

Those with no guaranteed hours are often offered work at the whim of their employer, can face irregular shifts and therefore irregular income. Rather than pick and choose their hours, many workers feel compelled to work whenever asked. If shifts are turned down, there’s an implicit threat that they could lose future work.

We urgently need a package to deliver decent jobs for BME workers including:

• a ban on zero-hours contracts
• the introduction of ethnic minority pay gap reporting
• new corporate reporting obligations on firms’ employment models.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/bme-workers-zero-hours-contracts

June 21, 2021

Summary

Insecure work is bad for the workers involved and bad for the economy.

Zero-hours contracts are the most egregious example of one-sided flexibility at work where the employer has absolute power over whether and when to offer shifts.

This joint report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and Race on the Agenda (ROTA) shows that disproportionate numbers of Black and minority ethnic (BME) workers are on zero-hours contracts. BME women are particularly likely to be on zero-hours contracts.

It also punctures the myth that zero-hours workers like the arrangement. In fact, most BME workers on variable-hours contracts would prefer to work fixed hours.

We need swift action from the government to ban the use of such contracts. It should give workers the right to contracts reflecting their normal hours of work and implement long-awaited plans to introduce ethnic minority pay gap reporting.

• Download full report (pdf)

Introduction

A zero-hours contract is one in which an employer is not obliged to provide a minimum number of hours.

New analysis contained in this report reveals that:

• nearly 160,000 BME workers are on zero-hours contracts, around one in six of the 1 million people who are on them, even though BME workers make up just one in nine employees
• one in 20 (4.5 per cent) women workers from a BME background are on such contracts, compared to just 2.5 per cent of white men
• more than half of BME workers on a variable-hours contract would like a fixed-hours contract. Just 27 per cent would prefer their existing arrangement.

Zero-hours contracts are the most egregious form of one-sided flexibility.

Those with no guaranteed hours are often offered work at the whim of their employer, can face irregular shifts and therefore irregular income. Rather than pick and choose their hours, many workers feel compelled to work whenever asked. If shifts are turned down, there’s an implicit threat that they could lose future work.

We urgently need a package to deliver decent jobs for BME workers including:

• a ban on zero-hours contracts
• the introduction of ethnic minority pay gap reporting
• new corporate reporting obligations on firms’ employment models.

Part of a longer press release at https://www.tuc.org.uk/research-analysis/reports/bme-workers-zero-hours-contracts

June 21, 2021