جمعه ۳۰ شهریور ۰۳ | ۲۱:۵۰ ۸ بازديد
However, as can be seen in the next chart, the actual numbers of young adults
unemployed is greater in Outer than Inner London, due to the larger population.
Chapter 5:5 Oct 10
Source: Annual Population
Survey, ONS, 2009
Inner London 16–24
Outer London 16–24
Inner London 25–34
Outer London 25–34
Inner London 35–49
Outer London 35–49
Inner London 50+
Outer London 50+
(50,000) 14%
(63,000) 17%
(50,000) 14%
(46,000) 12%
(49,000) 13%
(57,000) 16%
(18,000) 5%
(33,000) 9%
What does this graph show?
In 2009, around one-third of unemployed people in London are aged under 25.
Rather more are in Outer London than Inner London. Just over a quarter of all those
unemployed were aged between 25 and 34, and a similar number for those aged
between 35 and 49. Some 14%, or one in seven, of those officially unemployed in
London are aged over 50, including some who are older than the state pension age.
Part-time work
Despite all these changes, though, the number of people working in London in 2009
was actually slightly higher than in 2007 at around 4 million. The reason for the rising
unemployment rate was that the working-age population also grew over the same
period.
Within this working population, it has been part-time work that has been responsible for
much of the growth. The number of people working part-time grew by around 8%, from
760,000 in 2007 to 825,000 in 2009, as the numbers of both men and women working
part-time went up. This mirrors national trends.
Part-time work in itself is not necessarily an indicator of problems in the labour market,
and generally part-time work is less common in London than elsewhere. However,
an increasing number (around 137,000 in 2009) say they are only working part-time
because they cannot find a full-time job.
Figure 1.5 – Unemployment
by age and sub-region
Pay and low pay
In 2008 and 2009, median hourly pay of London residents rose roughly in line
with the rate of inflation, at around 4% per year. The pay of the bottom quarter of
employees living in London rose ahead of inflation. Median hourly pay in 2009 was
£14.31, and pay at the bottom quartile was £9.45. Both figures are much higher than
the national average.
For part-time employees, whose average pay is in any case lower, hourly pay rose
ahead of inflation in 2009 but barely rose at all in 2008. The combined effect over the
two years, though, is still an above-inflation rise.
Median gross pay; that is, the total annual pay of London residents, rose by less in 2009
than 2008, but still rose roughly in line with inflation over the period.
Chapter two:
Out-of-work benefits
Key points
Since the start of the recession in 2008, London has seen a smaller overall rise in•
people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) than any other region in England.
Around 4% of working-age adults in London (some 215,000) were claiming JSA•
in November 2009, a figure very close to the national average and an increase of
around 80,000 compared to two years earlier.
This increase is far from evenly spread throughout London. Whilst the number of•
claimants has risen by around three-fifths in Inner London, it has nearly doubled in
Outer London. As a result, there are now more JSA recipients in Outer London than
Inner London.
All seven boroughs in the Outer East & NE are among the ten London boroughs with•
the largest increases in JSA recipients. The three boroughs with the lowest increases
are all in the Inner West.
Around half of those making a new claim for JSA had previously claimed within the•
last six months. This means that large numbers of people are moving into work for
short periods before coming back onto JSA.
Most people receiving out-of-work benefits in London are not receiving JSA. Nearly•
100,000 more people in London claim some form of incapacity or disability related
benefit than claim JSA.
Context
By looking at unemployment statistics, the previous section allowed us to look at how
the recession had affected London compared to other parts of the country. It also
allowed us look within London to a certain extent. In this section, we look at people
claiming out-of-work benefits, as this allows us to look at the boroughs within London.
The first graph looks at all working-age adults receiving key out-of-work benefits. These
benefits can be divided into two types, contributory benefits, which are paid to an
individual who has made sufficient national insurance contributions, and income related
benefits, which are paid to ‘families’ (singles or couples, with or without dependent
children) with little or no other family income or savings.
The graph shows, by type of recipient, the main benefits out-of-work adults receive[4]
.
Job seeker’s allowance (JSA), paid to those out-of-work but actively seeking it.•
There is both an income based and contribution based version of this benefit. The
contribution based version is limited to six months, after which a claimant may
receive the income based benefit, or no benefit at all, depending on their family
income. ‘Receiving JSA’ is not the same as ‘unemployment’, which is measured (via
a household survey) and covers people who want paid work, are actively seeking it
and are available to start almost straightaway.
Incapacity benefits, either Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), or Incapacity•
Benefit/ Income Support (IB/IS), which it is replacing. Both are paid to out-of-work
adults with disabilities or who are ill. There are two rates of ESA, one for those
assessed as able to work and one for those not able to work, the former rate being
higher than the JSA rate. There is a contribution based version of ESA. Unlike JSA, it
is not time limited.
Benefits for lone parents of young children, usually Income Support.•
Benefits paid to people with caring responsibilities, again, usually Income Support (IS).•
Other income related benefits, generally Income Support or Pension Credit, although•
both are very small groups among those of working-age.
In terms of the incomes these benefits provide, none (bar Pension Credit) comes near
either the poverty threshold or the Minimum Income Standard [5]
. In 2009, the basic rate
of JSA was £64.30 per week for a single adult and £100.95 for a couple. Rises since
2009 have been tiny – £1 for a single adult, £2 for a couple per week.
[4] There is not sufficient space to
fully explain the different types
of available benefits here. We
find the Welfare benefits and tax
credits handbook, published by
the Child Poverty Action Group,
to be an invaluable resource in
this regard.
[5] See A Minimum Income
Standard for the United
Kingdom in 2010, Davis,
Hirsch, Smith (http://www.
minimumincomestandard.
org/downloads/2010_launch/
MIS_report_2010.pdf). Note that
this is after housing costs are
deducted, and housing benefit is
not considered when making the
above statement.
Out-of-work benefitsChapter 3:1 Oct10
Source: DWP Longitudinal
Study, 2007 and 2009
0 100,000 200,000 300,000 400,000 500,000 600,000 700,000 800,000
2007
Total
Total
Others on income related benefits
Others on income related benefits
Carers
Lone Parents
ESA and Incapacity
Job Seeker’s Allowance
Carers
Lone Parents
ESA and Incapacity
Job Seeker’s Allowance
2009
What does this graph show?
At the end of 2009 around 735,000 working-age adults in London claimed some out-of-
work benefit. The single largest group among these are people claiming for reasons of
incapacity or illness (either IB/IS or ESA).
The total figure is up by around 60,000 compared to 2007. Nearly all of this increase
has been in JSA, with some small rises in incapacity and carers’ benefit numbers.
The number of people claiming JSA has risen by just over 80,000 (around 60%) to
214,000. Some of this increase is as a result of changing rules regarding lone parents. In
2008, lone parents whose children were younger than 12 were moved to JSA. In 2009,
this age was further lowered to 10, with a further change to age 7 planned for October
2010. In the graph above, the number of lone parent IS claimants fell by 26,000 between
2007 and 2009. However, this is only one-third of the total increase in JSA.
Job Seeker’s Allowance
Given that nearly all of the increase in the number of people receiving out-of-work benefits
in the last two years has been among the unemployed, the rest of the chapter concentrates
on people receiving Job Seeker’s Allowance. Receiving JSA is not the same as being
unemployed. The previous chapter showed that 7% of the population of London were
unemployed, but only 4% received JSA. It is possible to be unemployed and not qualify
for JSA. For people who have worked long enough to make sufficient contributions the
automatic entitlement to the contribution based JSA only lasts six months. Thereafter, the
benefit is means tested, which results in many people losing the right to the benefit.
Figure 2.1 – Working-age adults
receiving out-of-work benefits
in London
Source: DWP Longitudinal
Study, 2007 and 2009
Chapter 3:2 Oct10
Change to 2009
2007
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
West
Midlands
North
East
Inner
London
Yorkshire
& Humber
North
West
Outer
London
East
Midlands
East of
England
South
East
South
West
London
What does this graph show?
The proportion of people receiving JSA in Inner London is, at around 5%, slightly above
the national average. In Outer London, at 4%, it is slightly below. The net effect is that
London overall is broadly average.
Inner London, while being slightly above average, saw its rate rise quite slowly since
2007. The 1.5 percentage point increase is lower than any English region and means
that, while in 2007 it had higher rates of JSA recipiency than any other region in England,
by the end of 2009 it was lower than the West Midlands and the North East.
This echoes quite closely the findings from the unemployment section above, that the
level of change in London generally (and Inner London specifically) has been lower
than elsewhere.
Other points
Over the period covered in the graph, the number of people in London receiving
JSA increased for all ethnic groups, by between 65% and 100%. Like the
unemployment figures earlier, it is not clear that any one ethnic group fared better
or worse than any other.
The number of women claiming JSA has risen at a faster rate than men during the
recession (80% for women, 60% for men between 2007 and 2009). The changing
rules around lone parent eligibility for Income Support are likely to explain at least some
of this differential.
Figure 2.2 – Proportion
of working-age adults
recieving JSA by region
Source: DWP Longitudinal
Study, 2007 and 2009
Chapter 3:3 Oct10
Rate in 2007
Increase to 2009
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7%
0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5% 6% 7%
Camden
Westminster
Kensington & Chelsea
Southwark
Merton
Tower Hamlets
Wandsworth
Kingston upon Thames
Richmond upon Thames
Brent
Barnet
Hackney
Harrow
Lambeth
Hammersmith & Fulham
Hounslow
Islington
Sutton
Newham
Lewisham
Bromley
Haringey
Redbridge
Waltham Forest
Ealing
Hillingdon
Greenwich
Bexley
Croydon
Enfield
Havering
Barking & Dagenham
What does this graph show?
This graph shows the proportion of working-age adults receiving JSA in each London
borough, averaged across the four quarters of 2009. It is ranked according to the
increase since 2007. The black line, from top to bottom, shows the average level for
London. The average is just over 4%, up from around 2.5% in 2007.
Barking & Dagenham has seen
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