Unions point to rise in 'insecure' work

It claimed its research showed that 10 per cent of Yorkshire workers are now in jobs without guaranteed hours or rights associated with regular employment.

The study suggests that 39,336 of the 216,610 jobs created since 2011 were in zero-hours, casual or agency work or were self-employed jobs in low-paid occupations

TUC regional secretary Bill Adams said: “Insecure working in the Yorkshire and Humber region has shot up in recent years.

“People need jobs they can live on. But if you don’t how much work you will have from one day to the next, making ends meet can be nightmare.”

In a separate report, the Resolution Foundation thinktank shows that public sector wages are now falling in real terms.

The Government has imposed a cap on annual wage rises in the public sector to one per cent a year and the report says rising inflation means pay will fall in value until 2019.

Adam Corlett, economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: “While rising inflation is applying the brakes to real pay growth across the board, the outlook for public sector pay looks particularly weak.

“Pay is now actually falling, and worst is expected to continue for the rest of the parliament, with levels at the end of the parliament dropping back to levels last seen in 2004.

“Although public sector pay restraint is important to the government’s deficit reduction plans, falling real pay is likely to see increasing recruitment strains.

“The government should be planning now how to manage those strains, alongside any wider changes to policies like migration that will also have an impact.”