Commenting about zero-hours contracts on Transworld Radio and other stations this morning (5th August 2013), Simon Barrow, co-director of the thinktank Ekklesia, said:

“Zero-hours contracts provide flexibility for employers, but more often than not they are a trap for workers.

“Employees have to be available for work as and when required, but with no particular hours or times specified or guaranteed. And despite being expected to be on-call, they receive pay only for hours worked. It is a deeply one-sided arrangement.

“These contracts are one of a number of reasons why we should be suspicious of official unemployment figures. Others are seasonal and part-time working, under-employment, youth joblessness, regional inequalities, and many people who have no regular work but are not on the register.

“Charities and churches, as well as labour organisations, are concerned about zero hours working and other problems facing both those in and out of work.

“The research evidence is that need sustainable investment and an end to damaging austerity policies to begin to turn things around.”

* More on zero-hours contracts: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/tags/9836

* Ekklesia commentator Bernadette Meaden: http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/18733