Households below a Minimum Income Standard: 2008/9 to 2011/12

Commissioned research show almost 1 million more households in the UK are living below the minimum income standard, taking the figure to 4.7 million households at 2011/12.

Key points

• The most severe increase has been among single people of working age, where the percentage unable to afford this minimum acceptable standard of living rose from 29 per cent to 36 per cent.
• Among single people aged under 35 it rose even faster, from 29 to 42 per cent. This group also had an even greater increase in risk of having extremely low incomes, of less than half the minimum required.
• Two in three people in lone parent families are now below Minimum Income Standard.
• Pensioners and couples without children remain the most likely to have an adequate income.

The full report can be opened here.

Employers are from Mars, young people are from Venus

There is a distinct mismatch between the expectations of employers and young people in the recruitment process, recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) research has revealed.

This conflict of understanding hinders entry to the labour market for young jobseekers and contributes to high rates of youth unemployment, the institute has warned.

It also fuels a “ticking time bomb” of skills shortages for UK businesses, who might be unwittingly limiting their access to a diverse pool of talent in the 16-24 age group.

The report available here identified a number of flash points that hindered young people from finding work, which included the “vicious cycle” of employers asking for workplace experience for entry level roles.