How casualisation affects terms and conditions
[ch 1: pages 7-8]Given the current political climate, it is not surprising that TUC research has shown how despite economic growth, the UK economy is blighted by persistent, involuntary, short-term and low paid employment. Office for National Statistics (ONS) Labour Market statistics drawn from the Labour Force Survey, record a quarter of a million rise in the number of temporary workers unable to find a permanent job between 2008 and 2013, while the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions estimates that the UK has the second highest proportion in Europe of very short hours contracts of less than 10 hours a week (8%). ONS statistics published in April 2014 revealed that 1.4 million workers had contracts that fail to guarantee a minimum number of working hours, and that in the case of 1.3 million workers, their employers failed to provide any hours at all during the two-week ONS survey reference period.
These bleak statistics are backed up by official figures showing that nationally real wages continue to fall, despite a fall in the jobless rate to its lowest point since 2009. ONS figures for April to June 2014 show that wages, including bonuses, fell by 0.2%