Rich-poor divide 'wider than 40 years ago'

The gap between rich and poor in the UK is wider now than 40 years ago, a government-commissioned report says.

"Deep-seated and systemic differences" remain between men and women and minority groups in pay and employment, the National Equality Panel found.

It said in areas such as neighbourhood renewal, taxes and education, policy action was needed to limit inequality.

The issues raised would need "sustained and focused action", Equalities Minister Harriet Harman said.
"But for the sake of the right of every individual to reach their full potential, for the sake of a strong and meritocratic economy and to achieve a peaceful and cohesive society, that is the challenge that must be met," she added.

Apparent discrimination against people from ethnic minorities was revealed in the report, with those from nearly every minority group less likely to be in paid work than white British men and women.

The panel - set up by the government in 2008 - found that despite women up to the age of 44 having better qualifications than men, men are still paid up to 21% more per hour.

But the authors pointed out that some of the greatest differences came within social groups.
Among women, many work part time, earning less than £7.20 an hour, much less than the median pay of £9.90 across the country.

"Most people and nearly all political parties subscribe to the ideal of 'equality of opportunity'," said panel chair John Hill.

"But advantage and disadvantage reinforce themselves over the life cycle. It is hard to argue that the large and systematic differences in outcomes which we document result from personal choices made against a background of equality of opportunity, however that is defined."

Mr Hill explained that the type of job and pay a parent had could have a cumulative effect throughout a person's life, setting them on "tracks that make all sorts of differences" - such as the school catchment area they lived in, their ability to help their child on to the property ladder, and ultimately their wealth as they got older.

By retirement the difference between rich and poor can be "colossal", the report added.

The panel pointed out that half of those who have worked in the top professions have net assets worth more than £900,000, while a tenth of those who have had unskilled jobs have property, savings and possessions worth less than £8,000.

BBC social policy correspondent Gillian Hargreaves said the report would make "awkward reading for the government" as Labour had made tackling inequality a priority.

Theresa May, shadow minister for women and equalities said: "It is unbelievable that Labour thinks it can claim to be the party of aspiration when its failure to tackle the causes of poverty have let down so many lives."

Liberal Democrat shadow children, schools and families secretary David Laws added that Gordon Brown's government had "run out of ideas for tackling the lack of opportunity for so many children and the chasm that separates the rich from the poor."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8481534.stm

A bit of a cheek of Theresa May to say "It is unbelievable that Labour thinks it can claim to be the party of aspiration when its failure to tackle the causes of poverty have let down so many lives." As if her party wasn't top of the league for 'failing to tackle the causes of poverty' - well, unless you mean enthusiastically supporting and building up the causes of poverty.

this might not have happened.

But yes, my first trip to the UK was in 1967, and I didn't go again until 2006.

In 1967, Britain struck me as being essentially a poor country but in a genteel sort of way. We were staying in London and had a slight mishap on our way back from an excursion to Stratford. We phoned our B&B landlady to say that we might not be back till around midnight. "Oh don't worry," she said. "I never lock my front door." The B&B was just north of Clapham Junction.

When I went back in 2006 and 2007, I was struck by two things: How upscale a lot of neighborhoods and businesses looked in a way that I hadn't seen at all in '67, but at the same time, I've never seen so many thrift shops, and the council housing I saw from the train windows looked mighty grim. A lot of London looked rundown and neglected in a way that it hadn't in '67 when it was just plain drab.

An English friend who is about my age once told me, "When I was growing up, Britain was a low-wage, low-priced country. Now it's a low-wage, high-priced country, and I can't afford the standard of living that my parents had on a much lower income."