Six million *working* people are in poverty, more than the number of unemployed people in poverty

[edam]

New report from Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds poverty is not caused by people being 'feckless' as the government often implies (or says outright). Instead, it is caused 'in the main by people moving in and out of jobs, and an underemployed workforce'. (Yet labour market flexibility is always touted as a good thing by the government and big business...)

Rowntree - an independent research body - says: "The report shows the close links between the two and insecure work and found:

"6.1 million people are in working households in poverty. Excluding pensioners, this is higher than the 5.1 million people in workless households in poverty.

"Underemployment, the number of people lacking the paid work they want, stands at 6.5 million. The number working part-time but wanting full-time work is now 1.4 million, up by 500,000 since 2009. A willingness among workers to do fewer hours is keeping unemployment in check.

"4.4 million jobs pay less than £7 per hour. Low paid work is common among hotels and restaurants, IT, finance and services, and wholesale, retail and transport jobs."

Full report or a summary are available here

So much for all the claims about poverty being solved if the unemployed got into work...

(sorry, that 'two' in the second par should have a bracket after it pointing out the two things they are discussing are poverty and insecure work - minimum wage short term jobs.)

heard this report too, rings true to both dp and I, we both are desperate for more hours but struggling to get them at the moment

Sorry to hear that, germy.

It's an interesting report, especially because the debate is often framed as poverty being caused by poor people Just Not Trying Hard Enough. The evidence here suggests that's not so.

And yet, UC means if you can't pick up those hours, up to 35 for both of you on MN, you will lose all assistance and be left. . . . to starve for your fecklessness.

I work in a area with great social deprivation and it seems to be those working on low pay and the single, childless people on benefits who are the most impoverished in my experience.

They are also very hard to target help at.

My neice (who left school at 16 never worked for 2 years) anyway at 18 SIL marched her to the JobCentre, she was placed on workfare for 8 weeks and got kept on, but she doesn't have regular hours, one week she worked for 4 hours. She's on £5 an hour too (how I don't know). She's off the unemployment figures but luckily my SIL bank rolls her big how many people have rent and bills to pay and have irregular hours week to week?

expat, I know, outrageous.

Sweetkitty, is your niece on some kind of zero hours contract? I think those things are astonishing. If someone wants you to be ready to work and available to work they should ruddy well provide work and pay for it.

I don't know what kind of contract she's on, probably some rubbish temp one, she works for a well known chain of bars (microwave food and no music).

Nice to know big business is making fat profits for the bosses out of exploiting the workers.