|
The media rarely (if ever) question the
idea that work cures poverty. Perhaps journalists should consider
the following:
• The number of people in jobs is at "record levels"
according to the UK government. Meanwhile, official UK figures
show 22% of people living in poverty, compared to 13% in 1979.
• 47% of employees have wages that, on their own, are
insufficient to avoid poverty. 42% of employees rely on means
other than their own wages to avoid poverty.
• In the 1970s and 1980s, around 4% of low-paid employees
lived in poverty. Currently, 14% of low-paid employees live
in poverty. (5% of all employees now live in poverty).
• Since the early 1970s GDP (national income) has doubled,
but in real terms (ie allowing for inflation) the bottom 10%
of jobs pay less now than in 1970. The minimum wage would
have to be around £6.50 per hour to bring low-pay up
to the 1970 level.
• Only 5% of welfare spending goes on the unemployed.
• In the USA, 40% of those being served in soup kitchens
are employed in jobs (after paying the rent, they have no
money left for food). Nearly a fifth of all homeless people
in America are employed in jobs.
(Sources: Government
DWP press release, Nov 2004; poverty.org.uk;
Joseph
Rowntree Foundation study, Nov 2004; Guardian, 14 Jun
2002; National Coalition for the Homeless, 1997).
|
