February 2009:
Number of unpaid overtime workers tops five million
British workers are going to increasing lengths to maintain job security in the strengthening grip of recession, according to figures released by the Trade Union Congress.
In its study of unpublished data from the National Statistics Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, the TUC has calculated that 5.24million workers across the UK generated a record £26.9billion in unpaid overtime in 2008.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber commented; “The numbers doing unpaid overtime has increased for the second year in a row. While some of this is due to the long-hours culture that still dogs too many British workplaces, the recession will now be making many people scared of losing their job in the year ahead and joining the ever-growing dole-queue.
“Inevitably people will be putting in extra hours if they think it can help protect against redundancy or keep their employer in business.”
Unsurprisingly, it was London workers who saw the biggest increase in unpaid overtime to the tune of 79,000 employees expected to put in the extra hours. Conversely, other areas of the UK saw a significant decline in those working unpaid overtime, with 26,000 fewer in the south east of England and 11,000 fewer in Scotland.