Zero-hours contracts 'have helped to break link between unemployment and crime'

The changing nature of the British jobs market has broken the link between unemployment and crime, according to new research.The phenomenon – which saw rising joblessness matched by increased burglaries, thefts and robberies during the Thatcher years – ended in 2005, according to an analysis of crime and employment statistics.The latest research suggests that growing trend of employers to adopt part-time working and zero-hours contracts has meant that communities are less blighted by mass unemployment and less likely to resort to crime.The findings explain in part why Britain was not hit by a crime epidemic following the 2007-8 financial crisis which led to unemployment rising above eight per cent for the first time in more than a decade but saw a continuing long-term decline in crime.



http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/zerohours-contracts-have-helped-to-break-link-between-unemployment-and-crime-10502596.html