Read more about the first of the two-volume study based on the PSE-UK survey. Find out how poverty affects people from different groups within the UK: young and old; men and women; different ethnic backgrounds; those with disabilities; and others.
The Hard Times reports provide evidence gathered by communities themselves on the impact of austerity and cuts on families and young people across Northern Ireland. Watch the accompanying films on home repossession, struggles with debt and youth hopes and dreams on the community webpages.
Some social policies in advanced economies remain geared toward older segments of society, leaving the younger population at greater risk of poverty, according to the conclusions of a new study from the Luxembourg Income Study.
The paper looks at 18 OECD countries around the year 2004, analysing the effects of social policies on the incidence of poverty among low-skilled young women and men aged 18-30, and among those at risk of possessing obsolete skills (low-educated men aged 55-64).
The government has reversed a central plank of its work experience scheme following criticisms from employers. It will drop benefit sanctions against young people on the scheme who withdraw early. Participants in the scheme, which offers 16–24 year-olds eight weeks of work experience, receive benefit while on the scheme. Under the previous rules, they would lose two weeks jobseeker’s allowance if they withdrew after a week. This change came after pressure from businesses participating in the scheme, with a number of companies withdrawing from the scheme.
Marc is 19 and lives in Redcar in north-east England, a town where there are twelve times as many people claiming job seeker’s allowance as there are job vacancies. Despite having passed a number of GCSEs and A-levels and having applied for hundreds of jobs over the last two years, Marc is still unemployed.
Meet Marc in the following three videos recorded in autumn 2011 and find recent updates at the foot of the page.
Marc video
Rising youth unemployment, pressure on pensions and a growing gulf between rich and poor were ‘sowing the seeds of dystopia’ and putting at risk the gains from globalisation, according to the World Economic Forum’s report Global Risks:2012. The report, based on a survey of 469 experts from industry, government, academia and civil society, examines 50 global risks, their interplay and how they are likely to develop over the next ten years.