by Arild Foss
The gap between rich and poor in the UK is steadily widening. According to a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, inequality has reached the highest levels in over 40 years. Building on census and survey data from the last four decades, the report Poverty, wealth and place in Britain 1968 to 2005 shows that households with average income have decreased. Instead more households have become poor over the last 15 years, and already wealthy households have become wealthier.
Social equality peaked in the 1970s and decreased during the 1980s and 1990. Changes since 2000 are 'less clear', states the report. Rich and poor have also become more separated: In some urban areas over half of all households are on the breadline, while wealthy areas generally have become disproportionately wealthier. Wealthy households are concentrated in the outskirts of major cities, particularly around London. Households with average incomes have gradually disappeared from the south-east of England.
Another report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Public attitudes to economic inequality, shows most people believe inequality in the UK is too high and a problem for society. For the last 20 years a large majority of us has felt the gap between high and low incomes is too large - but rather than low earners being underpaid, we are more likely to feel high earners are overpaid.
For the first time in a decade relative poverty has risen this year for the whole population
So how do we deal with large inequalities of income and wealth? Professor David Rose from the University of Essex examined this issue in the ESRC-funded fellowship Social comparisons and social order. Previous research has indicated that people compared themselves with others who were in similar circumstances, and this is why they generally didn't feel deprived. More recent studies emphasize how friends and work colleagues are important as reference groups - although alternative lifestyles provided by the media also have become sources of comparison. 'If this and the extension of such arguments are true, then less well-off people should be quite dissatisfied', states Professor Rose.
For the first time in a decade relative poverty has risen this year for the whole population, according to figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (Poverty and inequality in the UK: 2007). Child poverty also increased for the first time in six years. The report points to a moderate increase in benefit and tax credit payments the last two years as part of the reason.
More UK households are facing poverty with a growing number of people in low paid, part time and insecure employment. The ESRC-funded study Avoiding poverty over time: Households, work and welfare has explored the relationship between low income and household poverty over a two year period. The study (also featured in The Edge magazine) shows that living with an employed partner is crucial in keeping low earners out of poverty over time. Working long hours, claiming benefits or having a second job are also potential ways of avoiding poverty or moving out of low pay. But depending on workplace flexibility and personal circumstances these options may not always be available.
Although employment is essential in the fight against poverty, low income households are still at risk of becoming - and staying - poor.