Stress testing the UK welfare system for unemployment

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2010

Summary:

This article examines the resilience (or otherwise) of the United
Kingdom social protection system in the face of increasing unemployment.
It explores the extent to which benefits protect the household incomes
of unemployed people both in relative terms and in comparison with an
absolute
income threshold. It finds that for the people most likely to become
unemployed in the first phase of the current downturn most of any
protection they have comes from the earnings of other household,
members. In the case of sole-earner households, the benefit system fails
to maintain household
income above the poverty threshold in most cases and the relative drop
in income for this group is very high by international standards.

Published in

Journal of Poverty and Social Justice

Volume

Volume: 18 (3): 229-242

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/175982710X530525

Subjects

Notes

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*

serial sequence - indexed article

#513874

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest