Black and minority ethnic workers in the UK are more likely to be in temporary and ‘insecure’ work, according to an analysis published by the Trades Union Congress.

The analysis showed that there are 3.9 million black and minority ethnic workers (BME) in the UK.

They were found to be more than twice as likely to be on agency contracts than white workers. Furthermore, they were also more likely to be on zero-hours contracts with TUC finding that 1 in 24 BME workers are on zero-hours contracts, compared to 1 in 42 white workers.

Meanwhile, 1 in 13 BME workers (264,000) are in temporary work, compared to 1 in 19 white workers.

TUC added that BME working people are twice as likely to report not having enough hours to make ends meet.

In its analysis TUC called on the government to legislate to introduce mandatory ethnicity pay gap reporting for all employers with more than 50 employees, including a duty to produce an action plan.

They are also calling on employers to collect and publish data on BME pay, recruitment, promotion and dismissal. Furthermore, TUC is calling for employers to set targets for improving race equality within their organisations, measure and report progress against those targets annually, work with trade unions to establish targets and develop measures to address racial inequalities within the workforce, and ensure that employers have zero tolerance of racism and support all staff who raise concerns about racism.

Last week new legislation took effect which formed part of the government’s Good Work Plan, a package of workplace reforms which promised new rights to millions of flexible workers. The new legislation ensures that all UK workers, including zero-hours workers, receive a pay slip.