The ONS latest estimate of the number of people who are employed on ‘zero-hours contracts’ (ZHCs) is 697,000 for October to December 2014, representing 2.3% of people in employment, which is an increase on the same period in 2013, which showed 586,000 or 1.9% of people in employment on ZHCs. The estimate from the second ONS survey of businesses indicates that there are around 1.8 million contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of hours. The difference between the business survey and the labour force survey will partly be accounted for by people who have more than one ZHC with different employers or who have a ZHC to supplement their main employment. People on ZHCs are more likely to be women, in full-time education or in young or older age groups when compared with other people in employment. On average, someone on a ZHC usually works 25 hours a week. 

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