A report by the Living Wage Foundation (which campaigns for a wage based on the cost of living) has found that one in five UK workers (19%) were in insecure jobs in 2022, while one in ten (10%) were in insecure jobs that also paid below the Real Living Wage. These figures represented 6.1 million and 3.4 million workers respectively.
The most common forms of insecure work in the UK were represented by those on volatile pay and or hours of work (2.9 million) and low-paid self-employed people (2 million). Less common forms of insecure work include having a non-permanent job (1 million workers) and being on a zero-hours contract (1 million workers).
The report found that the sectors with the highest incidence of insecure workers were those in “agriculture, forestry and fishing” (53%); “accommodation and food services” (41%) and “arts, entertainment and recreation” (37%).
The regions with the highest proportion of insecure work were in the North East (24%), the South West and Wales (21%). The regions with the lowest percentages were London and the South East (18%) and Scotland (17%).
In terms of the impact that insecure work has on their lives, workers reported that they regularly experienced extremely short notice for shifts. Among the 57% of UK workers whose job involves variable hours or shift work, well over half (59%) had been called into work with less than a week’s notice, with 13% having been called in with less than 24 hours’ notice.
A quarter of workers also reported having shifts cancelled by their employer unexpectedly. When that happened, 90% said that they did not receive full payment, with 26% not receiving anything at all.
Nor is insecure work spread equally between workers. Minority ethnic workers are more likely to be in low paid insecure work than white workers – 13% versus 10%. Women are also substantially more likely than men to be on zero hours contracts, despite being employed in insecure jobs at a relatively similar rate, with 55% of zero houra contracts being held by women.
The foundation commissioned polling agency, Survation, to survey more than 2000 employees for the report.
To read the report, click here.