Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of employment growth which can be attributed to (a) agency work, (b) self-employment and (c) zero-hours contracts in each of the last eight years.

Data from the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that since the 2010 election employment has grown, by over 3.6 million, to a record high of 32.714 million. Over 75% of this has come from full-time, permanent employment. And over 75% of the growth since 2010 has come from higher-skilled occupations, which generally command higher wages.

The latest ONS data shows that agency temporary workers represent 1.0% of people in employment.

Self-employed people make up 14.8% of people in employment – up 1.3% points from when comparable records began in 1992.

In October-December 2018 2.6% people in employment had a zero hours’ contract – down from 2.8% the previous year.

Alongside this answer we provide a table showing the requested trends in different forms of employment. The following points should be noted:

• The ONS publish some of the requested data only in quarterly rather annual format. Annual comparisons are made using quarterly data.
• In some years it is not possible to provide the proportion of net employment growth, as employment in the requested categories of employment fell. For consistency we therefore only provide the net changes in employment levels.

Data on the numbers of people working in agency temping jobs is available quarterly. Oct-Dec 2018 is the most recent data; therefore, this quarter has been used to calculate the requested change on year.

Data on the numbers in self-employment is quarterly. Nov-Jan 2019 is the most recent data, therefore this quarter has been used to calculate for the change on year.

Comparable zero hours contracts data is available annually until 2013, then for Apr-Jun and Oct-Dec each year thereafter. Apr-Jun 2018 is the most recent data; therefore, this quarter has been used for the change on year.

The figures in this analysis are calculated from responses to the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As part of the survey the LFS asks people in employment if their job has flexible working and if so to choose from a list of employment patterns those which best describe their situation. The number of people who are shown as on a zero-hours contract will therefore be affected by whether people know they are on a zero-hours contract and will be affected by how aware they are of the concept. The increased coverage of zero-hours in the latter half of 2013 may have affected the response to this question. Therefore, please do not compare data before 2014, with data from 2014 onwards.