POVERTY IN UK

Poverty in UK

Table of Contents

Introduction3

Absolute Poverty3

Relative Poverty4

Poverty in United Kingdom4

Causes of Poverty in United Kingdom7

Disparities in wages and earnings growth7

Tax Structure8

Unemployment8

Uneducated and Unskilled Workers9

Inheritance9

Falling Relative Value of State Benefits10

Racial Discrimination10

Rowntree York Study11

Changes after Rowntree York Study12

Conclusion14

References15

Poverty in UK

Introduction

Poverty has not a definite meaning. Different authors define poverty in their own way. Some authors define poverty as the state of being poor or the state in which an individual or a family does not have essentials to meet his basic needs. Other authors define poverty as low income as compared to average income of the country. Poverty is a global issue. Before industrialization, most of the authors believe poverty as natural phenomena. They are of the view that poverty is inevitable with the help of tradition production modes. After the revolution of industrialization, mass production and modern agricultural farming became inexpensive and handy.

The historians realized how to accommodate the growing population or to maintain their average living standard (Jin, et.al., 2011, p. 5). Not only the lagging countries are facing this issue but also the advanced countries have the problematic issue of poverty. Every country is taking distinct steps to reduce poverty. The poverty cannot completely be removed because it is natural phenomena, but we can reduce to poverty at a minimum percentage. The nature of poverty and extend of poverty differ from country to country and region to region. The poverty measured by taking the necessities in the country's soundings. The poverty is defined in terms of absolute poverty and relative poverty.

Absolute Poverty

Absolute poverty refers to the condition in which one family or individual is deprived of the basic necessities of life. In other words, he does not have enough income to borne his own and family expenditure. The basic necessities of live usually include food, clothing and shelter. Absolute poverty also refers as the individual, or the family have on average 2 dollars or less than 2 dollars to meet his basic necessities daily. The benchmark of absolute poverty does not alter with the passage of time. Almost 43% of the total population survive on 2 dollars or lesser. This money does not cover the health and education expenses because these do not come under the priority domain. Absolute poverty is a serious issue and is most seen in lagging countries (poverty.org.uk).

Relative Poverty

People who are surviving less than the average set of living standard in a country and a time refer to relative poverty. The relative poverty measures the poverty in economics term i.e. if the individual of the family has a lower standard of living as compared to the average living standard of society (poverty.org.uk).

Poverty in United Kingdom

Poverty is a global issue and is faced by all countries either the absolute poverty or the relative poverty. United Kingdom is also facing the global issue of poverty over the last centuries. If we closely examine the absolute poverty, there is no absolute poverty because no one in United Kingdom will be spending lesser than one or two ...