Commenting on the ONS employment figures which show that there has been an increase in payrolled employees, but that these remain 200,000 below pre-pandemic levels, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady yesterday said:
“The jobs market is still fragile, with more than a million people still on furlough.
"Ministers should step up and provide targeted support for the industries still facing restrictions. We can't afford for more companies to go the wall, taking good jobs with them.
“And government must continue to use the furlough scheme to protect jobs, looking at extending the scheme if it’s still needed in September.
“As the economy opens up, we must build back better and fairer.
“We have 3.6 million people in insecure work – including many key workers. That’s one in nine people stuck in low-paid and high-risk jobs, often on contracts with few rights and no sick pay.
“We need to make sure people aren’t being driven into worst quality jobs. Now is the time to put an end to the scourge of insecure work by banning zero-hours contracts.”