employment

Can work eradicate child poverty?

This report examines the extent to which work can contribute to the eradication of child poverty, and identifies a number of issues that necessarily arise if work is seen as the best route out of poverty. The government has repeatedly stated that work is the best route out of poverty. This implies that work is not the only route, but is the preferred or main route in tackling child poverty. This report examines the extent to which there is underemployment among parents and a desire to work among parents who are not currently working.

Poverty pathways: ethnic minority women's livelihoods

Ethnic minority women are amongst the poorest and most socially excluded people in the UK. Yet very little is known about their lives, or how to lift them out of poverty. The report outlines 7 key policy traps and the steps needed to get things right. It looks at household dynamics, moving beyond paid employment as a panacea for poverty, and how women’s lives change over their lifetimes. It shows how ethnic minority women need to be brought back into the policy picture if their poverty is to ever be addressed.

Public sector employment (Radio 4 series: Thinking Allowed)

In this episode of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed series, following the interview with Sociologist James Stockinger in September 2004, Professor Peter Nolan talks to Laurie Taylor on the uniqueness of the British the public sector ethos and finds out why its employees, despite being the most motivated, are the most demoralised sector of the workforce. This segment is second of three discussions in the audio clip.

Life after care : report for Children and Young People Now magazine and the Care Leavers' Foundation

Report of a study which aimed to explore the transition from care experienced by young people with a view to identifying any differences in the experiences of recent care leavers when compared to older leavers and pinpointing key factors in the transition which impact on life after care.

Cycles of poverty, unemployment and low pay

Household incomes are dynamic and families can move in and out of poverty over time, with some of them becoming trapped in a cycle. What causes this kind of ‘recurrent’ poverty and how does it relate to unemployment and low pay? How could these cycles be broken? This report summarises the findings of four projects about recurrent poverty and the low-pay/no-pay cycle and examines relevant current UK policy and practice and suggests ways to create longer-lasting routes out of poverty.

Making recovery a reality

Paper describing some of the key ideas around recovery from mental health problems and looking at their implications for the delivery of mental health services. It aims to stimulate debate about how the recovery approach can be put into practice and what services need to do to make it happen.

Migration and rural economies: assessing and addressing risks

This paper examines the implications of increasing migration to rural areas, looking in particular at the economics of this phenomenon. A mixed methodology was used including a literature review, analysis of national population and economic datasets, surveys and focus groups with migrants in rural areas and interviews with key informants. The roles migrants play in rural areas are explored, as are the economic impacts of migration on existing populations and businesses, and what future migratory trends might be.