BAME women 'trapped' by zero hours contracts

BAME women are three times more likely to be on zero-hours contracts than White men, according to analysis by the TUC which says “structural racism in the jobs market is holding them back”, trapping BAME women workers in low-paid jobs with few rights.

The findings from Labour Force Survey data show that 6.8% of Black and Minority Ethnic women are on the insecure contracts compared to 2.5% of White men, 4.8% of BAME men and 4% of White women. The proportion of BAME workers as a whole on zero-hours contracts is almost twice as high as White employees, at 5.7% to 3.2%.

The number of workers on zero-hours contracts rose by nearly 150,000 to 1.18 million workers in the 12 months to August 2023, with the largest proportional increase of 0.7% also among BAME women.