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Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2009

On 3 December 2009, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) published its annual report on the state of poverty and social exclusion in the United Kingdom.

The report shows that levels of poverty, unemployment and repossessions in the UK started rising as early as 2004, long before the recession began. It argues that these findings mean that in order to reduce the number of people living in poverty by any serious margin, the UK needs to recover not just from the recession, but from deep-seated problems that were re-emerging before the downturn.

Built around a set of indicators and constructed using the latest official government data, the report assesses a wide range of subjects including unemployment, education, and health.

Key findings reveal that:

• poverty is now back at the same level as 2000; having risen every year since 2004/05;
• two million children are in low-income, working households - the highest figure since records began;
• since reaching a low point in 2005, unemployment has risen - now nearly 1 in 8 people of working age want, but lack, a job - the highest since 1997;
• repossessions are six times the level of 2004 and are now back at the level they were in 1994.

Monitoring poverty and social exclusion 2009