For millions of people, work in the 21st century has been characterised by persistent insecurity.

In the UK, one in five workers are in severely insecure work – facing a mix of low pay, unpredictable hours, poor protections, and limited career progression. Insecurity is more likely to affect certain worker groups including women, people from ethnic minorities, disabled workers, and young people.

In tandem with high levels of insecurity, the UK workforce is becoming sicker. The UK is the only G7 country with a smaller workforce than before the pandemic and employers in a range of key sectors are grappling with persistent worker shortages.

The Labour Government has come to power facing the same challenge as its predecessor; how do you grow the size of the UK workforce and support people to sustain employment, improve living standards, and support economic growth?

Our new briefing investigates what impact the quality of work contributes to long-term employment outcomes. Using longitudinal data of 10,804 workers employment journeys (2017/18 – 2021/22), it aims to understand the impact that being in insecure or secure work has on the type of employment, if any, a worker will have in the future.

Key findings:

• More than four in ten insecure workers (44%) fell into ‘long-term insecurity’ over a four-year period, presenting a direct challenge to the previous Government’s “Any Job First, Better Job Next, and into a Career” approach that assumed any job will help them progress into secure and sustained employment
• Secure workers displayed notably more favourable career pathways across the board. Workers who started in secure work in 2017/18 were twice as likely to hold a secure job by 2021/22 compared to those who started in insecure work (79.5%% vs 39.5%)
• Progression into secure roles often requires people to move sectors. Overall, insecure workers are nearly three times more likely than secure workers to switch sectors (28% compared with 9.6%) – often leaving sectors where insecure work is concentrated like social care, retail and hospitality
• Opportunities to change occupations or sectors tend to narrow with age and the evidence suggests that older workers are more likely to get stuck in insecure work – with workers aged 45-54 nearly twice as likely to remain stuck in insecure work relative to those aged 16-24 (48.8% vs 28.2%)
• Insecure workers are 1.4 times more likely than those with secure jobs to experience involuntary worklessness – becoming unemployed or economically inactive due to ill-health within the study period. This indicates that job security could be a factor in whether someone will stay in employment while managing a long-term health condition.

Supporting the UK workforce to thrive and progress

To improve work quality and progression opportunities for insecure workers, the Work Foundation calls on the UK Government to build on the momentum of the upcoming Employment Rights Bill and embark on two long-term institutional reforms:

1. Establish a national Secure Work Commission
2. Deliver reforms that shift the focus of the Department for Work and Pensions from administering welfare conditionality to supporting people into sustained work and incentivising employers to provide more secure jobs.

Read the full briefing here.

Related Reports

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  Double Jeopardy: Insecurity at work and at home

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  Zero Choices: Swapping zero-hour contracts for secure, flexible working

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  The UK Insecure Work Index 2024