Emeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 1, 2023

Tom Waters/IFS: 'We spend more than £100bn each year on working-age benefits. About half of it now goes to families in work.... The challenge here is that the kind of work they have tended to produce has been part-time & low-paid – which generally does not serve as a stepping stone to higher-paid work further down the line';

in other words #benefits' terms engineer a class of #workers stuck in rubbish insecure & precarious jobs; a new #underclass made by #Tory policy!

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/01/uk-benefit-changes-have-pushed-people-into-dead-end-low-paid-jobs-says-ifs

UK benefit changes have pushed people into dead-end, low-paid jobs, says IFS

Tougher rules have boosted employment but jobs offer scant career progression and contribute little to tax revenue

The Guardian
Show threadMartin Farrent
@ChrisMayLA6 Similar, variously dire phenomena are seen all over the western world. It's also troubling that the existence of a large precariat keeps people just one or two rungs higher in a state of constant fear, leading to timidity at work and often to irrational voting decisions. They know they don't have the means to temper a fall. But they also kid themselves into a soothing sense of superiority. Hence, many think their interests are fundamentally different from those of the precariat.
Feb 1, 2023 at 10:10amWeb
Show threadEmeritus Prof Christopher MayFeb 1, 2023
@MartinFarrent Its a classic divide & rule, or as the Victorians had it: the difference between the deserving & undeserving poor... all in all its a campaign (tied up with economic individualism) to suggest the poor are poor/insecure due to their lack of effort/application while the rich have earned their rewards...