31.1.11: PEF co-sponsors 'Welfare to What?' report

The Private Equity Foundation has co-sponsored the Welfare to What? report released by The Work Foundation. The report highlights the revolving door of poverty for the bottom 10 million people earning under £15,000 per year in the UK. At particular risk amongst the bottom 10 million are more and more young people who need vital support into sustainable employment.

The Work Foundation call on the Coalition Government not to ignore this vulnerable demographic:

A focus on job entry alone is not enough for the Coalition to meet its targets for benefits savings and poverty reduction, the government must look beyond worklessness to expand opportunities for around ten million workers already struggling on less than £15,000 a year. 

Welfare to What? Prospects and challenges for employment recovery is the first report from The Work Foundation’s Bottom Ten Million programme, which examines in-work poverty as both a serious social injustice and a major hindrance to the UK’s economic performance. The report also contains maps that illustrate the spatial divides in the job market.

The report argues that the government must put this group at the centre of employment policy and tackle deep rooted structural problems within the labour market.  It is time to look beyond worklessness to expand opportunities for this group and critically acknowledge regional disparity in order to meet its benefits savings and poverty reduction targets.

Naomi Clayton, lead author of the report said, “There is an urgent need for quality, lasting jobs that provide opportunities for development and progression. The regional and local divisions in jobs cannot be addressed without tackling the ‘Bottom Ten Million’“

Without more, better paid jobs, long-term sustainable regeneration in these places will not be possible.

Based on the pace of regeneration in local areas, a balance must be struck between increasing individual mobility in order to widen access to job opportunities, while seeking to rebuild the economic base to increase the number, quality and sustainability of local jobs.

The latest labour market figures show the growing impact of public sector cuts and, as predicted, little recovery in manual and semi-skilled jobs. With signs of increased polarisation in the jobs market set to worsen social mobility, a sustained effort is needed to address the deep rooted structural problems in the labour market. Without this effort, the mismatch between new jobs and existing skills will leave people trapped in insecure, low wage employment or pushed out of the labour market altogether.

Naomi Clayton added, “Policy makers need to consider a wider range of measures, used in parallel with the National Minimum Wage and working tax credits, to combat in-work poverty. The UK has built up a strong network of labour market intermediaries helping people find better jobs and develop skills. Sustaining and strengthening these networks for the ‘Bottom Ten Million’ will be a key part of any future strategy and will have to be backed by sustained public investment.”

For further information please contact Joe Hewitt at joe@privateequityfoundation.org or call 020 7749 2031