Only 8% of young workers would choose a zero-hours contract
Young workers are bearing the brunt of exploitative zero-hours contracts, which the TUC warns are “holding young people back at a key stage in their working lives”.
New analysis by the union body reveals 18-24 year-olds are more than twice as likely to be employed on ‘exploitative’ zero-hours contracts than other workers, with one in 10 affected.
The research reveals that more than half of young workers aged 18-24 are at risk of unfair dismissal, due to having been with their employer for less than two years.
In addition, around one in 10 are excluded from sick pay, as they are more likely to earn below the £123 per week threshold.
Polling commissioned by the TUC shows 76% of young workers want secure hours, while just 8% would choose a zero-hours contract.
In good news for workers, the government’s Make Work Pay agenda will raise the minimum wage and scrap minimum wage age bands to ensure fair pay for young people.
The Employment Rights Bill, which had its second reading in the Lords yesterday, will ban zero-hours contracts, guarantee sick pay from day one, and strengthen unfair dismissal protections.
Workers will still have the option to remain on a zero-hours contract if they want to.
TUC General Secretary Paul Nowak said: “Everyone deserves to start their working lives on a strong footing.”
Nowak said that the government’s Make Work Pay agenda will introduce “common sense reforms to strengthen rights and protections at work” and help put more money in young people’s pockets.
He added: “Britain’s experiment with a low-pay, low-rights economic model has been tested to destruction.
“Those defending the broken status quo are opposing access to better pay and jobs for young people across the country.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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