This week we’ve learnt that Number 10 welcomed American welfare gurus for tea to advise on the forthcoming White Paper. Given the all-time high of 43.6 million Americans living in poverty, and a US unemployment rate that is almost double what was considered the norm in better times, what should work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith take as the real lessons of the American welfare reform story?
Britain should heed the lessons of the US when understanding what has gone wrong for the ‘squeezed middle’, argues Harvard research associate Sophia Parker.
The Tories have said they won’t implement “mistaken” provisions in the Equality Bill. Is this what Cameron meant by the ‘Big Society’?
Low-income households are the real “squeezed middle”, living right on the very edge of their means & surviving on an average earned household income of £15,800.
A new report out today highlights the need for more to be done for the nearly 15 million low-income earners in Britain.
UK’s 7.2 million low-paid, low-skilled workers at the sharp end of a flexible and global service economy who are being hit hardest by the recession. Those who do hold on to their jobs are finding the recession is limiting their already slim chances of accessing training. While low earners are facing significantly higher levels of inflation than richer groups.
