Tim Worstall

Single Parents

Clearly I don’t know enough about the welfare state as it actually is:

Unions and poverty campaigners have reacted with anger to plans to
privatise much of the benefits system and to require lone parents with
children over 12 to seek work.

You mean they don’t have to seek work now? Seriously? That simple parturition means that there is no requirement to seek work for a decade and more? That two or three strategically timed children mean never having to work at all? Bit of a gap in the system isn’t it?

In

12 responses

  1. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    It was tentatively suggested several years ago by some probably inadequately house-trained sociologist, whose name presently eludes me, that some young women in Britain feel impelled to make a career of serial maternity to avoid the stress of working for a living.
    What’s worse, it has to be admitted that the hypothesis has certain indeniable attractions when confronted by the unpalatable facts, namely, that
    – “The UK has some of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in Europe, and the government has placed a high priority on bringing the figure down using extensive information campaigns on contraception and safe sex.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6279601.stm
    – “Britain’s teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe, a study by a think-tank has suggested. On every indicator of bad behaviour – drugs, drink, violence, promiscuity – the UK was at or near the top, said the Institute for Public Policy Research.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6108302.stm
    – “Labour’s tax and benefits system makes it more lucrative for single mothers to stay on state handouts than return to work, according to research from the world’s chief economic and social authority. In a major blow to Gordon Brown’s reputation, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development indicated that Britain has the Western world’s biggest benefits trap.”
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/14/nmums14.xml
    Put it down as just part of Tony’s leagcy to us from nearly ten years as prime minister.

    Reply
  2. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    What has “Britain’s teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe” (most of whom are male) got to do with serial pregnancy to avoid working?

    Reply
  3. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    Here’s another question for you, Tim: roughly what proportion of lone parents with children of secondary school age are working?
    Tim adds: No idea. I assume you’re going to tell me that it’s less than 100% which is rather my point isn’t it? Why should the employment rate of single parents be less than that of the working age population at large?

    Reply
  4. Jim Avatar
    Jim

    “Why should the employment rate of single parents be less than that of the working age population at large?”
    You really can’t think of a single reason? Oh, and the answer to my question is more than two-thirds, ie not that much lower than the overall employment rate, suggesting it’s much less of a problem than you and Tony Blair seem to think.
    Tim adds: Two thirds of what? The population? Or the working age one?

    Reply
  5. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    “What has ‘Britain’s teenagers are among the most badly behaved in Europe’ (most of whom are male) got to do with serial pregnancy to avoid working?”
    Try thinking about it – especially documented connections with binge drinking, promiscuity, the soaring incidence of STDs etc etc.
    Bus shelters around where I live are carrying large official NHS adverts about giving up smoking – but nothing about curbing binge drinking:
    “The number of alcohol-related deaths has increased by nearly a fifth in four years, figures show. The Office for National Statistics data revealed deaths in England and Wales rose by from 5,525 in 2000 to 6,544 in 2004 – an 18.4% increase. The highest increase was in Yorkshire and the Humber which saw a 46.5% hike.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4152772.stm
    Btw the latest annual figures for road accident fatalties in Britain were c. 3,200 – twice as many are now dying from alcohol-related causes than from road accidents but even so road accident fatalities among young drivers are rising against a general downward trend:
    “THE death rate among young drivers has doubled in the past five years, prompting demands for greater restrictions on those who have recently passed their tests. The steady improvement in road safety across the general population is masking a sharp increase in the number of drivers aged under 20 having fatal crashes, despite a tougher driving test.”
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3223-2116254,00.html
    Btw Gordon Brown’s new deal for the young jobless in 1997, funded by retrospective taxes, seems to have failed:
    “”There are now 1.24 million people aged between 15 and 24 who are neither in education, work or in a training scheme — a 15 per cent increase on 1997. The rise has been particuarly rapid for 16 to 17-year-olds and men, both up by almost a third.”
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2498386,00.html
    “More young people are out of work now than when Labour won power in 1997 by promising to cut youth unemployment, official figures obtained by The Times reveal.
    “There are now 37,000 more unemployed people aged 16 to 24 than in May 1997, with the total rising from 665,000 to 702,000, according to the Office for National Statistics.
    “The unemployment rate has risen to 14.5 per cent among young people, overtaking the 14.4 per cent rate Labour inherited from the Conservative Government. . .
    “Out of work:
    665,000 Unemployed aged 16 to 24 in May 1997
    702,000 Unemployed between 16 and 24 now
    22.5% Unemployment rate for Londoners aged 16 and 17 in 1997
    42.9% Unemployment rate for Londoners aged 16 and 17 now
    11,200 16 to 24-year-olds claiming benefit for more than a year last month
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2513754,00.html

    Reply
  6. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    About the rising incidence of STDs:
    “More than 23,200 people in the north-east of England are being treated for sexually transmitted infections – an increase of 10% in just one year. This is far higher than the national rise of 2%, a new report by the Health Protection Agency has revealed. The biggest increase was in the spread of syphilis, rife in Victorian England, which is up by 37% and chlamydia which rose by 29.5%.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/wear/4637469.stm
    “Wales is facing an epidemic of sexual diseases among teenagers, according to new figures. More young people in Wales are seeking help at clinics than ever before, BBC Radio Wales’ Eye on Wales has found.
    “Consultant Olwen Williams, an expert on sexual infections, said the number of under 16s in Wales attending clinics had risen 37% in five years. The Welsh Assembly Government has announced plans to spend £14m on sexual health services.
    “Rates of chlamydia have also increased by 240% among girls aged 16-19 in Wales in the same five-year period.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4262529.stm
    “The number of people being infected with sexually transmitted diseases in Leicestershire is rising. Figures from Eastern Leicester and Leicester City West Primary care trusts show a rise in the number of people attending health clinics. About 10,000 people attended the clinics in 2000, but that rose to 14,000 last year.”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/3868377.stm

    Reply
  7. Recusant Avatar
    Recusant

    Please can you reduce ‘Bob B’s’ comments to a maximum of 100 words? Sheesh. I mean: prolix or what?

    Reply
  8. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    Especially since BobB’s comments rarely have any kind of reasoned argument (assuming random newspaper articles, a tapping of the nose and a “see? see? it’s all linked I tell you” don’t count as reasoned argument).

    Reply
  9. dsquared Avatar
    dsquared

    it seems to me a curious assumption for a man who at other times bangs on incessantly about domestic work, to believe that lots of people would choose to take full-time care of an infant for the second or third time, in order to avoid a part-time clerical job.

    Reply
  10. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    Why blame me, for heaven’s sake?
    I’m just posting quotes from the mainstream press about the realities in Britain after nearly ten years of New Labour government. It’s the gov’t and Mr Hutton who are evidently worrying about the numbers staying on benefit who ought to be working in their view – but understandably so since taxpayers are picking up the tab and the tax burden in Britain now has been reported to be the highest for 20 years:
    “The welfare bill is getting huge. In 1971 only 8 per cent of the working population was on benefits; today the figure is 18 per cent. Indeed, the right-wing think-tank Civitas suggests one-third of British households rely on benefits for at least half their income.”
    http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2332021.ece
    “Launching the Freud report, the Work and Pensions Secretary, John Hutton, got strict about welfare reform. ‘The status quo is not defensible,’ he said severely, seeming not to notice how odd that statement sounds from a Government that has had ten years of comfortable majority in which to change that status quo.”
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/libby_purves/article1475228.ece

    Reply
  11. Kay Tie Avatar
    Kay Tie

    “I’m just posting quotes from the mainstream press about the realities in Britain after nearly ten years of New Labour government.”
    No-one here is defending New Labour. We all think they’ve done huge damage to the country. But posting quotes that aren’t relevant to Tim’s original article aren’t helpful.

    Reply
  12. Bob B Avatar
    Bob B

    I beg to differ – if I’m permitted to do so, that is. The quotes posted seem to me to relate directly or indirectly to factors which could inhibit lone parents from moving from benefit to work and also as to how and why we have the extent of lone parenting that we have in Britain. The quotes are necessary because IME many simply disbelieve – or dismiss – the scale of the problem and the likely causes.
    Not only is IPPR – a pre-eminently Blairite think-tank – saying that we have among the worst youth in Europe but the recent UNICEF report concluded: “The UK is the worst place in the developed world to grow up . . ”
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/breakfast/6359979.stm
    Surely need to face some unpalatable facts, like: “Britain has the highest proportion of single mothers in the EU, and, perhaps revealingly, one of the highest rates of benefits for lone parents.”
    http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article2332021.ece
    As reported, OECD research also showed that we have a greater benefits trap than other Western countries – lone parents may gaining very little additional income net of taxes and benefits changes from going back to work

    Reply

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