Zero-hours workers earn £6 less per hour

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox

Get our free View from Westminster email

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

Workers on zero-hours contracts are being paid £6 an hour less than other employees, according to research published ahead of a summit to study what action is needed to tackle the issue.

Labour is bringing together unions and employers following the revelation that a million people could be employed on a zero-hours basis, under which they are not guaranteed work from one week to the next.

The opposition said official figures analysed by the Resolution Foundation showed that zero-hours workers earned an average of £9 an hour, compared with £15 for other employees.

Labour said the summit, in London, was aimed at discussing the growth in zero-hours contracts and what could be done to tackle their “abuse”.

The shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna, said: “New evidence highlights that there could be hundreds of thousands more people on zero-hours contracts than previously thought. That’s hundreds of thousands of people in insecure work earning far less than average pay.

“Flexibility works for some, but the danger today is that too often insecurity at work becomes the norm.

“The huge spike in the use of zero-hours contracts has brought increased reports of abuses and bad practice. There should be zero tolerance of such abuse.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable has ordered a review of zero-hours contracts following growing controversy over their use.

A study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development found that up to a million people could be employed on zero-hours contracts, four times as many as official estimates.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “It’s hugely concerning that zero-hours contracts are becoming such a prominent feature of the labour market.

“Workers on zero-hours contracts are completely at the whim of their boss, who can reduce their income to nothing without warning or reason.

“The Government must act to stamp out abuses of workers on zero-hours contracts, before the low pay and insecurity that they bring start becoming the norm for new jobs.”