Black and ethnic minority workers are far more likely to end up trapped in temporary and insecure work, figures suggest.
Union the TUC said there are currently 3.9 million black and minority ethnic (BME) workers in the UK - and this group are more than twice as likely to be stuck on agency contracts than white workers.
It found one in 24 BME workers are on zero-hours contracts, compared to one in 42 white workers, while one in 13 BME workers are in temporary work, compared to one in 19 white workers.
The analysis shows that many BME employees are experiencing the double hit of underemployment and low pay.
They're twice as likely to report not having enough hours to make ends meet.
And many are working in temporary and zero-hours jobs where pay is typically a third less an hour than for those on permanent contracts.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady 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."
The TUC is calling on the Government to legislate to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for all employers with more than 50 workers, including a duty to produce an action plan.
A Government spokesman said: "Discrimination has no place in our jobs market, and diversity is good for both businesses and the communities they serve.
"We already have near record-high ethnic minority employment in the UK-but we want even more companies' workforces to reflect modern Britain.
"In October, the Prime Minister launched a series of measures to help employers identify how to tackle ethnic disparities in the workplace, including a new Race at Work Charter and a consultation on mandatory ethnicity pay reporting."
