The current cost of living is pushing more people into poverty, with almost 68% of low income...
Poverty forecast
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28/11/2012
Model aims to capture dimensions of poverty
A 'pioneering' new model has been launched to capture the different ways poverty hits a range of household types. The Demos think tank stresses that poverty is not just about income, but is a 'complex, multi-dimensional phenomenon' manifesting itself in a variety of ways.
Category: Reports -
26/11/2012
Poverty soars among working households
The links between poverty and job insecurity are highlighted in an annual monitoring report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. It estimates that 6.1 million people in working households are now living in poverty – a number that exceeds the 5.1 million people in workless households in poverty.
Category: Reports -
31/10/2012
‘Self-perpetuating’ effects of inequality
Many forms of social disadvantage have a 'perpetual' character, according to the findings of a large-scale European research project. Past inequalities can themselves lead to future inequalities – not only for the individuals concerned but also for their children.
The report examines the key channels of influence and causality through which the social impacts of inequality can arise. It summarises the emerging conclusions from a wide range of individual studies, organised around five areas:
Category: Reports -
24/10/2012
Welfare state ‘needed to tackle European poverty’
The best-performing European countries in terms of social and economic outcomes have one thing in common – a large and active welfare state. That's the emerging policy conclusion of a major EU-funded research project on poverty and inequality.
Category: Reports -
22/10/2012
24,000 families in Scotland face ‘severe disadvantage’
As many as 24,000 families in Scotland face severe disadvantage – amounting to 4 per cent of the total population of families with children – according to a think-tank report.
The Demos report emphasises that hardship is about much more than just low income. The report defines severe disadvantage as having four or more disadvantages out of the following seven: low income, worklessness, lack of qualifications, poor physical health, mental illness, overcrowded living conditions, and a poor-quality neighbourhood.
Category: Reports -
16/10/2012
Demand for food banks at record levels
A record-breaking 100,000 people have received emergency food from foodbanks in the space of just six months, according to the Trussell Trust charity. Three new foodbanks are opening every week to help meet the growing demand for emergency food.
The charity warns that Christmas 2012 is looking even bleaker for families on the breadline, as rises in food and fuel bills over the winter could force more people into a crisis where they cannot afford to eat. It also points out that fewer than 5 per cent of foodbank clients are homeless, and that many are working families struggling to make ends meet.
The Trussell Trust operates the UK's only national network of foodbanks, in partnership with churches and community organisations. The foodbanks provide a minimum of three days emergency food to people in crisis. Foodbank recipients are referred by a frontline care professional such as a doctor, social worker or schools liaison officer.
Category: News stories -
11/10/2012
Improved measures of material deprivation in EU
Improvements have been proposed in the way material deprivation is measured in European Union countries. The changes are designed to aid the monitoring of social objectives at both national and EU levels.
Researchers have put forward a new material deprivation indicator for the whole EU population, and also a child-specific indicator (for those aged 1–15). Their work draws on data collected in the 2009 wave of EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions). 'Material deprivation' is based on the affordability of a selection of items (goods or services) considered to be necessary or desirable for people to have an 'acceptable' standard of living in the country where they live.
Category: Reports -
03/10/2012
Gender a ‘prime factor’ in poverty in Europe
Gender is a prime factor in explaining why some people are at risk of poverty rather than others, according to new European study. The authors adopt a gender perspective on poverty – in terms of both income poverty and poverty as a multi-dimensional phenomenon.
Category: Reports -
20/09/2012
How welfare affects the ‘inheritance’ of poverty
Intergenerational factors have the biggest influence on income poverty in 'liberal' and southern European welfare regimes, according to a study funded by the European Commission.
The study analysed the relationship between poverty and social exclusion (on the one hand) and parental characteristics and childhood economic circumstances (on the other), using data from the EU-SILC 2005. It compared findings from one-dimensional and multi-dimensional approaches to poverty and social exclusion, in order to assess how far different welfare regimes affect the intergenerational transmission of disadvantage.
Category: Reports -
17/09/2012
Rising profits linked to inequality and poverty
A rise in the share of national income taken by profits is linked to a rise in income inequality and poverty, says a new research study for the United Nations. The main contributory factors are policies that promote economic 'liberalisation' and deregulation, and in general the 'slow erosion' of the welfare state.
The study draws on high-quality and homogeneous datasets for 26 developed countries (compiled by the United Nations and the OECD), together with secondary sources.
Category: Reports
