Decades of political rhetoric about “scroungers” living on the dole means poverty is now synonymous with unemployment.
But more than half of people living in poverty in the UK – 60 per cent – live in a household where someone is working, according to a new report by Cardiff University researchers.
The study sheds new light on the growing problem of in-work poverty. The evidence shows that the likelihood of adults experiencing poverty while living in working households has risen by just over 25 per cent in the past decade.
Researchers at Cardiff’s School of Social Sciences say families with only a single earner are more likely to experience hardship.
Jeremy Corbyn has promised a Labour government would raise the minimum wage to £10 an hour to try to tackle low rates of pay, while the Conservatives plan to raise it to £8.75 by 2020.
But while low pay is part of the problem, it is not the sole factor, according to the new report. Rising housing costs are also part of the complex picture when it comes to in-work poverty.