'Shameless' generation grows as seven million now live in households where no one works

 

 

By Jason Groves

Last updated at 5:21 PM on 8th September 2010

 

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More than seven million people live in households where no-one works, according to shocking new figures released today.

Official figures revealed that almost four million households contain no-one who works – almost one-fifth of the total.

And in some parts of the country almost a quarter of all households are now workless. In the last year alone a further 148,000 households have joined the grim statistic.

 

More and more households are living long-term on benefits, like the characters from the Channel 4 programme Shameless

 

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said the ‘shocking’ figures were an indictment of the last Labour Government’s failure to tackle welfare reform.

And the new data supports claims that the Labour government cultivated a 'Shameless' generation that have not held a job and are living long-term on benefits, like characters from the Channel 4 programme Shameless.

Since 1998 the number of workless households has soared by 22 per cent, with an extra 700,000 families joining the total.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling: 'We must act now to ensure that children living in workless households are not left behind like their parents have been'

 

Mr Grayling said: ‘These figures are a further indictment of how the current system is failing families and is a shocking reflection of the scale of worklessness across the UK that this Government has inherited.

"Some areas of Britain are suffering from intergenerational worklessness, which is why we must act now to ensure that children living in workless households are not left behind like their parents have been.’

The figures produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that there are now 3.9 million households, containing 5.4 million adults, in which no-one has a job.

They also reveal that 1.9 million children live in homes where no-one works – fuelling fears that the benefits culture will be passed from one generation to the next. In total, 7.3 million children and adults aged under 65 live in workless households.

Sources at the Department for Work and Pensions said the figures underlined the need to drive through reforms of the benefits system to make work pay and get people back into work.

All 2.6 million people on incapacity benefit are to undergo fresh medical tests to see if they are fit to work, with trials due to begin in Aberdeen and Burnley next month. Those assessed as being able to work would immediately be moved onto Jobseekers’ Alliance – cutting their benefits by more than £25 a week and requiring them to seek work immediately.

Ministers are also set to introduce a new 'Work Programme' next year which will force the jobless to make daily efforts to find work on risk losing their benefits. Private companies will be offered incentives to help get benefits claimants back into work.

THE WORKLESS HOUSEHOLDS

 

Region Number %

 

UK 3.9 million 19.2

North East 218,000 24.3

North West 483,000 21.0

Yorkshire and Humber 363,000 20.5

East Midlands 282,000 19.2

West Midlands 347,000 19.7

East of England 292,000 15.7

London 495,000 19.1

South East 385,000 14.2

South West 286,000 17.1

Wales 226,000 22.9

Scotland 411,000 22.6

 

 

The ONS figures reveal huge variations in the number of workless households around the country. In the North East almost a quarter of all households (24.3 per cent) contain no-one in work – almost double the number in the South East where only one in seven households (14.2 per cent) is workless.

The figures also show that single parent households are most likely to have no-one in work, with almost 40 per cent of single parents out of work.

A spokesman for youth charity the Prince's Trust said: ‘The UK has the highest number of children growing up in workless families in the whole of the EU. These vulnerable young people are significantly more likely to struggle to find work themselves, with many expecting to join their parents in the dole queue.

'We know that the downward spiral of unemployment can lead to crime, homelessness, or worse. Only by giving these young people the right support and role models will we break this cycle of worklessness.’

 

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1310220/Seven-million-live-households-works.html#ixzz0yyRREvZJ

Work is hard man, cos it's like working init :P

 

Or:

"Why should I go to work where I'm earning more money on benefits"

I signed up to Jobseekers this week.