Young Adults and Working Poor Ignored By Government, Says Report
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December 1, 2011 TheFreshOutlook  |
A study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports young adults and the working poor are being neglected by the coalition.
A study conducted by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation argues that young adults and the working poor are neglected by the coalition government, as their poverty policies focus on children and pensioners.
The authors of the Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report, claim that the coalition are making the same mistakes as Labour, who saw a reduction in child poverty by 1 seventh, but a rise in poverty amongst young adults and those working for minimum wage.
The report used the European system for measuring poverty, classing those who earn 60% less than the average adult, as living in a state of scarcity. Therefore, a single adult with no dependent children, earning less than £124 a week, would be classed as living in poverty.
The report argues that ministers do not help working age adults without dependent children. This has led the number of people in this category, and in poverty, to rise by 1 million. Meanwhile the number of pensioners in poverty has decreased by 1 million, claims the report.
A spokesperson for the government defended its new policies, stating that the poorest of families will benefit most from their proposals.
“We have changed focus in order to tackle the main causes of poverty and put in place a system that supports and rewards people who do the right thing and go to work. Our wide-ranging reforms will have a dramatic impact on the poorest families, improving the life chances of children at an early age and lifting almost a million people out of poverty.”
The Rowntree Foundation, however, argues that the government needs to address problems associated with badly paid, insecure and “dead-end” jobs. The report claims that by doing so, the government will still be helping to improve the lives of more than half of all children in poverty, as many live with a parent who already does paid work.
Tom MacInnes, co-author of the report, said: “A conservative estimate is that the country lacks at least 4m paid jobs. In this situation, reforms aimed at improving incentives to enter work will increase the number scrambling for vacancies while doing next to nothing to reduce poverty.”
By Chloe Nicholas
[Image courtesy of Financial Times photos]
