Transcript Young People, Financial Responsibility And Exclusion

Monitoring Poverty and Social
Exclusion in Northern Ireland 2009
Tom MacInnes and Peter Kenway
New Policy Institute
Background
•First Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Northern
Ireland published in 2006
•Part of a series (UK, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales)
•This ‘Findings’ updates that report, but looks in some new
directions, especially regarding the recession
•Full set of poverty graphs for Northern Ireland can be
found on www.poverty.org.uk
Defining “low income”
•60% of UK median in the same year
•Measured here after housing costs (AHC)
•Worth p.w: single adult - £115; lone parent with 2
children - £194, couple with 2 children - £277
•The choice between AHC and BHC matters as NI
housing costs are lower than the GB average
People in low income households
People in low income households
Child poverty
Child poverty
Child poverty
Child poverty
Child poverty
Adults not in paid work
Work, worklessness and
unemployment
Work, worklessness and
unemployment
• In year to August, the employment rate fell by
4.1% in NI, compared with 2.1% in GB
• By contrast, the unemployment rate went up but
by the same amount in GB and NI
• Whereas the economic inactivity rate went up
by 2.6% in NI and just 0.1% in GB
• This could solidify the previous position - more
people in NI lack work, but a greater proportion
of these do not want work
JSA claimants
Migrant workers
• Represent a real change in NI since the last report
• Eg in Dungannon, A8 migrants make up around 7% of
the population
• Migrants are not excluded, or poor, per se
• But the same social security safety net does not exist
for recent arrivals as the rest of the population
Housing and housing need
Final comments
• No progress – or worse – on child poverty since
middle years of the decade
• Recession will make things worse
• Benefit and tax credit increases in 2008 will make
things better
• So net effect could well be little change
• How do we start making progress again?