'Very difficult' to live on zero-hours contract, says George Osborne

George Osborne has said he would find it “very difficult” to live on a zero-hours contract, even though the Conservatives do not think such employment agreements should be banned or further restricted.

The chancellor also acknowledged that the contracts are a sign of job insecurity for workers, but said they were not as bad having no work at all.

He was questioned about the practice while speaking at a Britvic plant in Leeds, after the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, in nearly Huddersfield, said there was now a zero-hours “epidemic”.

Miliband said he would get rid of “exploitative” zero-hours contracts and people should be entitled to convert their contracts into a regular job after only three months instead of a year – the previous timeframe set out by Labour.

There has been a big political debate about how widespread the contracts are. The independent fact-checking organisation Full Fact said it was difficult to tell whether zero-hours contracts are becoming more widely used or workers are now more aware what type of contract they are on. It said around one in 40 jobs is a zero-hours contract, not one in 50 as the Conservatives claim.

Asked whether he could live on a zero-hour contract, Osborne said: “Of course it would be very difficult … There are some zero-hour contracts that people want. I heard on the BBC at lunch a student talking about how they wanted that. But for people who want to work longer hours, for people who want job security, the answer is to create the jobs.

“Here are the business leaders of some of the biggest British businesses, small companies, companies around the whole UK, saying if you depart from the economic plan, jobs will be threatened, investment will be deterred and the recovery will be put at risk. That will put people out of work, and that is the greatest insecurity of all.”

This goes further than David Cameron’s responses in last week’s interview with Jeremy Paxman, when he said he could not live on an “exclusive” zero-hours contract, which the government is banning. This ties an employee to one firm without guaranteeing any hours.