NEW statistics showing a record low in unemployment are hiding the reality of “millions of people trapped in insecure and low-paid jobs,” Labour said yesterday.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published data showing that the number of people without jobs has fallen below 4 per cent for the first time since 1975.

In the quarter to January, unemployment fell by 35,000 to 1.34 million, 112,000 fewer than a year ago.

The ONS also reported that employment increased by 222,000 to 32.7m, the highest since records began in 1971.

But shadow employment minister Mike Amesbury warned: “Beneath these figures lie millions of people trapped in insecure and low-paid jobs. Two thirds of children growing up in poverty live in a working family.

“Labour will ban zero-hours contracts, introduce a £10-an-hour living wage and end the social-security freeze which is hitting workers on low incomes.”

ONS’s Richard Clegg, who is responsible for reporting labour-force statistics, claimed that only about 2.6 per cent of people in work were on zero-hours contracts in the latest quarter.

The ONS counts a worker as “employed” if they work at least one hour a week. It has claimed that the share of people working fewer than six hours a week make up at least 400,000 people that are represented in employment figures.

Employment Minister Alok Sharma claimed that the employment figures are “further evidence of the strong economy the Chancellor detailed in last week’s Spring Statement.”