1000s of UK women forced into low-paid jobs: Report

Financial crisis has pushed thousands of British women into low-paid jobs over the past six years, a new report shows. According to the research, conducted by the Fawcett Society equality campaign group and released on Monday, over 820,000 more women have moved into types of jobs that are classified as low-paid and insecure since the start of the economic crisis in 2008.

The study also found that female under-employment has nearly doubled to 789,000 in the UK over the same period, with additional 371,000 women having turned into self-employment.

Eva Neitzert, deputy chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said despite a drop in unemployment figures, the report indicates that low-paid women are being “firmly shut out of” the country’s economic recovery.

“The numbers of women in low-paid, insecure work are still alarmingly high," she added.

Gloria De Piero, British Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, also criticized the coalition government’s female jobs record, saying, "Under [UK Prime Minister] David Cameron and [his deputy] Nick Clegg, more women are struggling on low pay, in insecure jobs and not getting the hours they and their families need."

Trades Union Congress (TUC) General Secretary Frances O'Grady also raised concerns over a shift in the UK’s job market towards low-pay contracts, adding the trend “risks turning the clock back on decades of progress towards equal pay.”