Almost half of unemployed turn down zero-hour contracts

One in four unemployed adults is offered zero hour contracts, according to research by Glassdoor.

However, the study shows that 47% of people surveyed had turned down a job under the terms of a zero hour contract.

Allowing employers to hire staff with no guarantee of work has created controversy amongst jobseekers. The main reasons for this were cited to be: the lack of trust towards employers (44%), people unhappy with irregular working hours (30%), the requirement to receive a guaranteed level of income to stop benefits (54%) and finally, due to the negative press coverage (13%).

From the Glassdoor report, it also reveals that 45% of unemployed people believe these contracts are exploitative and 39% want them to be abolished. They found that jobseekers felt these contracts were only beneficial to employers (34%) and that they are set out to make employees work harder (25%).