LONDON: The number of black and minority ethnic workers in insecure work has more than doubled over the last decade, a UK union body said on Monday, calling for government action.

The TUC, an umbrella group of 48 unions comprising more than 5.5 million members, said the phenomenon of low pay, variable hours and fewer rights and protections was an example of “structural racism”.

It based its findings on analysis of a study it commissioned of agency, casual, seasonal and other workers between 2011 and last year but excluded those on fixed-term contracts.

The figures showed that 3.9 million people were in insecure employment: of those, 836,340 were from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds in 2022, up from 360,200 in 2011.

BME men were almost twice as likely to be in insecure work as their white counterparts (19.6 percent compared with 11.7 percent), with women also affected (15.7 percent to 9.9 percent)

Overall, workers from BME backgrounds accounted for two-thirds of the increase, despite comprising only 14 percent of the overall workforce.

Corresponding figures for low-paid workers from white backgrounds remained relatively stable, the TUC said, describing it as an example of inequality in the labour market.