Causes of Poverty in the UK

What is Poverty?

Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack the resources to have living conditions and amenities which are customary in our society.

Who lives in Poverty?

Poverty is greatest amongst families with children. Single parent families are twice as likely to be poverty as families with two adults.

On average women have lower incomes than men. Women who are single parents or have given up careers to act as carers are more likely to be in poverty. Elderly people are now in a better position because many of them are in houses which are worth a lot of money. Although many elderly do live in poverty.

Gender Age

The causes of poverty

Race

Unemployment Low paid Employment Government Policy

Living below the poverty line

defined

as 60% of median income In Scotland 2007/08 there were 860,000 individuals (17% of the pop) living in poverty

Unemployment
Over

half of workless adults of working age live in poverty In December 2010 UK unemployment rate is 7.9% In 2006 it was 5.3%

What causes unemployment

Structural Changes . Technological changes. Foreign Competition.

Education. Lifestyle. Government Policy.

Low Income
Having a job lowers the risk of poverty but does not guarantee a good standard of living 40% of adults in poverty live in a house where at least one person works Av. wage in Britain is 200 p/wk top 10% in Britain can earn around 800 p/wk Bottom 10% earn 150 p/wk Factors that influence low paid unemploymentGeography, Gender, Sector of the Economy.

Race
8%

of the UK population is from an ethnic minority group. of Pakistani/ Bangladeshi are likely to live in poverty.

52%

Why is

this?

 Cultural

Reasons- Pakistani women are more likely to stay at home and look after their families.
Only one income

Larger

families than average coupled with lower incomes

 Education-

Pakistanis tend to have lower qualifications than average

greatly impacts on the types of jobs that they get.

However

Not all ethnic minorities have such a high risk - Indian and Chinese educational attainment is much higher than whites due to the value placed on education.

 Discrimination-

Many from Ethnic minorities are offered less interviews which means they have a lower chance of getting a job.
in the English language can be problem for recent immigrants when seeking work.

Fluency

Government Policy
Benefits Policy- Benefits are set a low level to make more people want to work. Many peoples benefits are means rested which means that many go with out. Relative to earnings, out-of-work benefits for working-age adults without children are now worth 20% less than in 1997. The NMW has raised income levels. Currently 5.73 per hour. BUT for a single person to reach minimum income standard of 13,400, would need to go up to 6.88

Low Income
Having a job lowers the risk of poverty but does not guarantee a good standard of living 40% of adults in poverty live in a house where at least one person works Av. wage in Britain is 200 p/wk top 10% in Britain can earn around 800 p/wk Bottom 10% earn 150 p/wk Factors that influence low paid unemploymentGeography, Gender, Sector of the Economy.

Gender
Women

are more likely to be employed in low paid jobs WHY? Women tend to be carers for young, sick and elderly family members and this greatly effect them developing careers. Lots of women in part time workSales, cleaning etc.

Gender
In

2003/04 the average female wage was just 53% that of a male on average Women in FT jobs are paid 17% less than men. 42% of women work PT Only 9% of men

The Glass Ceiling

an invisible barrier that prevents women reaching the top jobs. Women make up: 3% of executive directors 10% of company directors 25% of department heads

Why?

Family Structure
Single

parent families and families with large numbers of children more at risk of poverty Why?
57%

work 42% of children living in poverty are in single parent households

of female lone parents do not

Geography
Poverty is highest in N England, Scotland and Wales Why? Differences in unemployment levels, home ownership, average incomes However, poverty and wealth exist side by side in many areas Drumchaple and Bearsden Living in a deprived area can affect your life chances Scotland has the areas with highest proportion of low paid workers Borders, Moray, West Dunbartonshire, Dumfries.

Education
The

lower a person's qualifications, the higher their risks of being out of, but wanting, work or being in work but low paid. those with no qualifications are twice as likely to be lacking but wanting paid work And if working, they are two-and-ahalf times as likely to be low paid.

Age
There

are two main groups who are vulnerable to poverty- Children and the Elderly