Study: Almost half of jobseekers in UK reject controversial insecure work

New study shows job-seekers in Britain are less attracted to the controversial zero-hours contracts which give them no guarantee of work.

Researchers have found that nearly half of the unemployed Britons who could have taken up a job under zero-hours contracts have turned it down despite fear that they could wrongfully be withdrawn from unemployment benefits.

Glassdoor, a global jobs and recruitment service, has cited lack of work guarantee and trust with employers as the main reasons for job-seekers rejecting the offers. According to the study, 23% of jobless were offered a zero-hours contract, with 47% turning them down.

“This could be interpreted as employers exploiting the most vulnerable, namely people who really need the money. However, for others it is a useful stop-gap. It can provide valuable work experience and the flexibility can be a positive, depending on your life stage,” Jon Ingham, an expert with Glassdoor said.

“The growth of zero-contracts means an increasing number of people in Britain really doesn’t have proper jobs. At the time, we have to say that people working as part-times and people working for aid agencies and so are retreat from the days when we were able to expect that people would have regular steady jobs, five days a week. There’s no better future in [zero-hour contracts] in terms of gains and you are very precarious in terms of your usual psyche. A permanent worker has a permanent contract with certain rights such right to sick relief, right of holidays, rights of maternity leave but in zero-hour you have none of these”, Chris Bambery, a London-based political commentator told Press TV.

The revelation comes amid postponement of new official data on zero-hours program. The only figures available on the program were released by the Office for National Statistics last year that showed some 700,000 people were on the contracts.

The mechanism which allows employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work has long been criticized by unions as well as some Labour lawmakers. Unions claim the zero-hours contracts are exploitative and unfair in nature and must be banned.

“Exploitative zero-hours contracts have become the employment model of choice for bosses such as Sports Direct, which has 75 per cent of its workforce on these contracts”, Steve Turner, Unite assistant general secretary said.

“The reason why people turn down such works is quite simple. For instance, people like me if have children, you want to able to plan your wife in terms of childcare, you want to know when you work in so you make an arrangement for your kids and holidays. We also see a growing attack on benefits with employers warning that if you turn down works, you can have your benefits taken away”, Bambery said.    

Last year, the coalition government, under presser form the opposition passed rules against zero-hours contracts. Meanwhile, calls are getting lauder on the issue with some opposition members want the Conservative-led government to re-examine the issue.

“It just shows this is still an issue, despite the government claiming all is well in the labor market. People want security when they go to work and to know how much they will be earning at the end of each month, rather than being left in limbo week in, week out,” said Labour MP Alison McGovern who has been one the fiercest critics of the program.

Jeremy Corbyn, front-runner of the Labour party leadership race has also pledged to ban the zero-hour contracts saying he would work to place a weekly minimum for hours on contracts.

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