Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- List of acronyms
- Part 1 Setting the scene
- Part 2 Benefits for unemployed people
- Part 3 Benefits for disabled people
- Part 4 Benefits for children and families
- Part 5 Benefits for retirement
- Part 6 Towards a welfare class?
- References and further reading
- Index
17 - The economy and the family
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgements
- List of acronyms
- Part 1 Setting the scene
- Part 2 Benefits for unemployed people
- Part 3 Benefits for disabled people
- Part 4 Benefits for children and families
- Part 5 Benefits for retirement
- Part 6 Towards a welfare class?
- References and further reading
- Index
Summary
Summary
Employment among women with employed partners increased markedly between the 1970s and 1998, but remained static among women with partners who were sick, disabled or unemployed.
This resulted in a polarisation of employment between ‘work-rich’ and ‘work-poor’ households.
Employment among lone parents fell noticeably between 1971 and 1994, but had recovered slightly by 1998. The fall, adding about 120,000 to Income Support caseloads, was linked to the changing characteristics of lone parents and to an increasingly competitive labour market, rather than to a lack of willingness to work. More lone parents were young, with pre-school-aged children, and had limited qualifications and work experience.
The proportion of men who were low paid approximately doubled between the early 1970s and 1996. Over a similar period there was a fourfold increase in the risk of poverty among families with at least one person in work.
However, the rise in the number of individuals in poor families of working age, from 3.1 million in 1971 to 8.5 million in 1997/98, was due mostly to the increased proportion of workless families.
Over a million working families were added to claimant caseloads between 1971 and 1998.
Virtually all the changes in the labour market, documented in Chapters 4 and 13 that have conspired to increase benefit receipt – the decline in manufacturing, higher unemployment, higher employability thresholds – of course affect families with children. Suffice, therefore, to focus here on three issues that have special poignancy for families, and which have contributed both to an increase in child poverty and higher caseloads: the polarisation in wages, the fall in working by lone parents, and increased worklessness more generally. First, however, it is important to acknowledge that more mothers working is of financial benefit to themselves and their families.
Mothers’ employment
One of the most profound changes in the labour market that has occurred during the last three decades is the increase in women's participation in the labour market, both in absolute terms and relative to men. In 1998, 69% of women and 81% of working age men were in paid work – a gender gap of 12%. In 1971 only 57% of women worked and, since 94% of men then had jobs, the gap was 37%.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Making of a Welfare Class?Benefit Receipt in Britain, pp. 205 - 216Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2000