According to government statistics, the issue of widespread unemployment has fallen dramatically since the official end of the recession, with employers now taking on enough staff to see the unemployment rate drop consistently on a quarterly basis. However, with many workers still failing to find full time positions, it seems that a new problem threatens to destabilise the economic recovery.
In the first report by the government’s Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, released this week, it was revealed that simply having a job is no longer enough to tackle the issue of poverty in British households. This is partly due to the rising cost of essentials such as food, clothing and fuel, but primarily due to employers failing to pay workers a proper living wage according to the study.
The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission is led by one-time Labour minister Alan Milburn, who was the key author of the report. He warns that the problem does not simply face those from poorer backgrounds, and that middle class children can now expect to be worse off than their parents upon reaching adulthood for the first time in more than 100 years.
At present, around five million workers in the UK fail to earn a proper living wage, which is set at £7.45 per hour outside the capital city and is significantly higher in London. This means that not only do many have to go without luxuries, but must also choose which essentials for day to day life should be prioritised over others in a lot of cases.
Mr Milburn expressed the belief that these workers must be given assistance in order to correct this situation, especially as child poverty is quickly becoming a “problem for working families.”
He continued; “These are the people, frankly, who do all the right things.
“They go out to work, they stand on their own two feet, they look after their families – they’re the strivers, not the shirkers, and yet they’re all too often the forgotten people of Britain and I think they desperately need a new deal.”
In his report, several suggestions were made regarding the best way to tackle this growing issue. For example, he believes that the government should be doing more to encourage employers to pay a fair living wage for all workers, perhaps even by raising the national minimum wage to force the hands of big businesses.
With two thirds of children categorised as “poor” coming from families with at least one working parent, and three in four of these cases having a parent who works full time, it certainly seems that something has gone very wrong in the field of social mobility. However, with the economy still racked by instability following four years of recession, the question is whether the government – and, moreover, small employers around the country – can truly afford to tackle this issue in a lasting way.
Do you think employers should accept responsibility for workers struggling to survive on low wages, or should the government instead be looking at ways to reduce costs and lower inflation on essential items?
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