#employment-legislation

#employment-legislation

It reflects what businesses tell us they are less confident about hiring staff due to sky-high employment costs and a tidal wave of new employment legislation coming down the track. While there has been some easing of cost pressures - with average earnings including bonuses slowing to 4.7 per cent in the three months to October - labour costs remain a challenge.

When Seamus Foley took a job on a zero-hours contract at a board games bar in London two years ago, the flexibility it offered was appealing. Now, it is a deal so bad he is prepared to walk out on strike. It's exhausting. You're constantly living your life on the back foot, says the employee at Draughts, which has bars in Stratford and Waterloo.

In the US, the number of contingent workers is poised to increase significantly, with 65% of companies intending to ramp up reliance on such labor in the coming years.