Replies - Newest Posts First (
Show In Chronological Order)
After8
3:39 Sun Apr 26
Re: 100 Reasons not to vote Conservative
|
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/04/economist-explains-7
Tony Blair, then leader of the opposition Labour party, pledged to end them in 1995. But since then they have flowered. In a 2015 study the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that there were 697,000 people on these contracts between October and December 2014, working an average of 25 hours a week. The fact that this number—currently representing 2.3% of Britain’s 30m strong workforce—is growing may seem worrying. But while a third of the workers covered in the ONS study wanted more hours, the majority did not. Other studies show that some workers like the two-way flexibility the contracts provide. A 2013 study by the CIPD found that 47% of workers on zero hour contracts were "very satisfied" or "satisfied" with their deal, with 72% believing they had choice over the hours they worked. Workers in other countries like informality. In a 2009 study of Japan’s economy the IMF found that non-regular work had risen from 20% of the workforce in 1990 to 34% in 2007: survey evidence revealed that the arrangements were popular with Japanese workers, allowing women with young children and retired workers seeking a pension top up to enter the workforce.
Businesses that run on zero-hours contracts are against the ban. Firms including Sports Direct, a retailer, JD Wetherspoon, a pub chain, and both McDonald's and Burger King run on zero hours contracts, with more than 80% of their workforce on the flexible deals. While it is natural to wish, as Mr Milliband does, that a burger flipper were paid more it is too easy to forget the other side of the deal—workers are shoppers too. No-one in Britain expects these outfits to offer top-notch sports kit, the finest ales or the heartiest burgers—they go because they are cheap. If banning the contracts raises these firms’ costs it could lead to unpopular price rises. That is not to say Mr Miliband is entirely wrong. Firms that subvert labour laws by using zero hours contracts to avoid providing holiday, sick pay and other worker rights should be stopped from doing so. Bosses running businesses where reputation matters more than price (Buckingham Palace, the Tate and Premiership football clubs all use the contracts) should offer more stable deals. But simply outlawing them is wrong. Britain’s wages will grow only if unemployment continues to fall and productivity growth returns. Banning a form of contract that many firms and workers seem to like, and making the market less flexible, is not the way to achieve those goals.
|
