12 April 2019

Black, Asian and ethnic minority workers are a third more likely to become "trapped" in insecure work, a new TUC study has found.

Further, the analysis – which used government labour market figures – found that Black and Asian workers were twice more likely than their white counterparts to report not having enough hours to cover their living costs.

While one in 19 white employees are on zero-hours contracts or in agency work; one in 13 ethnic minority workers find themselves in this position.

The TUC released the report at its Black Workers' Conference, concluding that the disparity was the result of race discrimination.

It called for a right to guaranteed hours for all workers, echoing the recommendations of the Institute of Employment Rights (IER) in its Manifesto for Labour Law, in which 26 leading academics and lawyers proposed the replacement of zero-hours contracts with ones which provide for a minimum number of guaranteed hours and prescribe the potential for additional hours paid at a higher rate.

The TUC also repeated the IER's recommendation for mandatory pay gap reporting to be extended to employers with 50 or more workers (rather than the current 250) and to include racial disparities as well as gender ones.

Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC, said: "Far too many BME workers are stuck in low-paid, insecure and temporary work.

"This has a huge impact on their living standards and life chances.

"This problem isn't simply going to disappear over time. We need a co-ordinated approach led by government to confront inequality and racism in the labour market - and wider society."