More than two-thirds of zero-hours workers aged over 25 have been with the same employer for more than a year, highlighting concerns that the insecure arrangements have become a permanent feature of working life for thousands of people.
The Resolution Foundation found 400,000 over-25s on zero-hours contracts, 70% of the age group, had had the same employer for more than 12 months.
Ahead of official figures expected to document the rise of zero-hours contracts, the independent thinktank said the research indicated that the use of the contracts “stretches well beyond those seeking short-term flexible work”.
The foundation, which has backed the use of flexible contracts for students and young people getting their first taste of work, said the widespread use of zero-hours contracts – which offer no guaranteed hours – will be a key challenge in Theresa May’s attempts to tackle job insecurity.
The prime minister put the issue at the heart of her government programme, saying in her opening speech outside 10 Downing Street: “If you’re from an ordinary working-class family, life is much harder than many people in Westminster realise. You have a job, but you don’t always have job security.”
Conor D’Arcy, policy analyst at the foundation, said: “The fact that the use of zero-hours contracts has grown – and the prime minister has chosen to highlight the issue of job insecurity in her maiden speech – mean that they need far closer, and more measured, scrutiny.
“Many workers who are on a zero-hours contract want more stability, reliable hours and greater protection. Helping them get this should be a priority of this government.”
The report follows a row over the use of zero-hours contracts at Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct retail empire. Ashley said this week that he would offer retail staff 12-hour contracts and consider shifting 4,000 agency workers in his distribution centre in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, to full-time contracts, though only at a rate of 10 a month. On that basis, the transfer could take 33 years.
Earlier this year, the Office for National Statistics said the number of workers on zero-hours contracts had increased by more than 100,000 over the previous 12 months to exceed 800,000 for the first time.
The data showed there were about 1.7m such contracts last November, indicating that many workers have more than one zero-hours contract.
The ONS said workers were more likely to be contracted to large employers than smaller firms, and to work in the hotel and leisure industries. The health and education sectors followed closely behind, suggesting that more employers in the NHS, the care industry and universities have come to rely on zero-hours contracts.
The foundation argued that for many of these workers, “fixed-hour employer contracts, which offer a guarantee of paid work and paid holiday and sick leave, would be more appropriate”.
Unions and the Labour party have long criticised zero-hours contracts, which usually involve workers being offered hours at short notice on a weekly or monthly rota.
In June, Jeremy Corbyn attacked Sports Direct in parliament, saying that Ashley “would make Scrooge look like a good employer”.
