Income and wealth Inequality Essay

Why is low pay a pressing issue and what is historically linked towards? and how many workers are paid at or below minimum wage (April 2023)

Low pay is a pressing issue in the UK because of rising inflation and the cost of living crisis.

low pay is linked to individuals living from pay check to pay check and "zero hour contract"

The Low Pay Commission estimates that there were around 1.6 million workers paid at or below the minimum wage in April 2023, around 5% of all UK workers,

How many people are in relative poverty within the UK?

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed that around one in five people in the UK were in relative poverty before housing costs in 2022/23. (with housing costs included)

What has been a pressing issue since COVID and what are the current rates between September and November of 2024, and how do they compare to a year ago?

• Unemployment has been a pressing issue since the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020

• The UK employment rate for September to November 2024 (74.8%) is below estimates of a year ago (May to July 2023) (74.9%) but increased in the latest quarter.

How many adults are subjected to poverty in workless households?

More than half of working-age adults (56%) in workless households were in poverty in 2021/22, compared with 15% in working households.

What is the poverty rates for worklessness adults?

2/3rds of working-age adults in poverty lived in a household where someone was in work. whilst workless households are 40% more likely to be in poverty than in working households

What are current Tabaco statistics (including second hand smoke exposure) And which income bracket nations do a majority of tobacco users live

• WHO found that Tobacco kills more than 8 million people each year, including an estimated 1.3 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.

• Around 80% of the world's 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries.

What did ONS find out about Education attainment? and what is Education a good predictor of?

• Educational attainment is measured in how highly one scores in academia and performance in higher education especially in university such as having a degree. These can have a major impact on how successful someone would be as it could determine future career path.

• Educational attainment is the most important predictor identified of the likelihood that someone will be in poverty or severe deprivation in adulthood.

• Education is associated with a number of other childhood factors

How can discrimination impact individuals, give specific examples! What did ONS discover about the Gender Pay Gap? What kind of roles are women often situated towards?

• Discrimination can impact individuals as minorities have to struggle such as women who will deal with the glass ceiling and are more likely to be turned up for promotions due to the risk of going on leave to deal with children.

• Women are often in the five C's (Cleaning, Clerical, etc). ONS found that there remains a large difference in the gender pay gap between employees aged 40 years and over and those aged under 40 years.

What did the independent find about discrimination in the workplace? And which group feels most affected by it

22% of UK employees report facing discrimination in workplace, Survey finds and Black employees were more than twice as likely to agree that they have been passed over for a promotion.