Lone Parents And Poverty

Lone Parents And Poverty I have chosen to focus my essay on lone parents and poverty. Lone parents are a growing group in Great Britain and elsewhere, and one with high rates of poverty and receipt of social assistance. This paper will analyse the current Governments policy objectives and their vision that it is right to expect people to make every effort to get themselves ready for work, as well as raising expectations within society. employment, or employment on low earnings (Millar and Ridge 2001). This means that many lone parents have to rely on state benefits which are often set at low levels. To this list we might also add low rates of receiving child support from ex-partners (the father of any children), and relatively low rates of child support even among those receiving any (Marsh et al 2001). It is widely accepted that poverty is a consequence of lone parenthood. But poverty is itself also a cause of lone parenthood, particularly for single (never-married) lone mothers. In previous years in Britain lone parents with children below the ages of 16 had a right to seek paid work or not without any risk of sanctions from the Government or other Government bodies (Rafferty and Wiggan, 2011). This was further pointed out by by the Freud Review (2007) of the welfare to work provisions as well as the green paper on welfare reform published in the same year In work, better off: next steps to full employment. This was seen as a critical phase in the development of social poilicies within the area, it saw a new social agreement and view that sought to reinforce lone parents oblihations to seek paid work (Department for Work and Pensions 2007). The subsequent December 2007 White Paper, Ready for work: full employment in our generation, while acknowledging that many respondents to the Green Paper did not support the proposal to require lone parents to seek work on the basis that they should be able to choose to stay home to look after their children full-time, pointed towards evidence of the negative long-term effects for parents and children of long-term economic inactivity. Under the old labour Government, lone parents with a child under 16 who were not in full-time work could claim Income Support. However, from November 2008 most lone parents with a youngest child aged 12 or over were no longer eligible for Income Support. Those deemed able to work were instead able to claim Jobseekers Allowance, provided they were available for and actively seeking work. The age threshold for the youngest child was then progressively lowered, so that by October 2010 most lone parents with a youngest child aged seven or over were subject to the JSA regime and this was further extended in the Budget 2010 to those whose whos youngest dependent child being  ¬Ã‚ ve or over (Great Britain, Parliament, Her Majestys Treasury, 2010). The Governments intentions are for those who find work to benefit from higher income and improved wellbeing. They are committed to halving child poverty by 2010-11 and on the way to eradicating it by 2020. Currently there are 2.9 million children living in poverty. In addition to making families better off, paid work has other important benefits including improving the health and well-being and future prospects of both parents and children. There are also fiscal benefits behind the idealisms, with a lower benefit burden the Government estimates that this policy change will affect approximately 100,000 single parents in 2011 and make saving of  £380m between 2011 and 2015 (Tickle, 2010) there is also wider social gains with reduced adult and child poverty through increased employment (DWP, 2008). Lone parents feel that their concerns have been disregarded; that being a parent is a full time job and there are insufficient flexible, family friendly jobs available (Woods, 2011). Gordon (2002) stated that there was an uncertainty about how to get benefits reinstated quickly if a job did not work out well for the lone parent and it was another barrier in the way of seeking employment as well as the loss of Housing Benefit and changes in their Working Tax Credit. This is reinforced by the Policy Studies Institute (1997) which found that many out of work lone parents say they are unable to take paid jobs, even if they could find affordable childcare and the biggest reason given was that their children were too young and needed their mother at home. On 26 October 2009 Gingerbread published a report, Signing on Stepping up? Single parents experience of moving on to Jobseekers Allowance, which presented the findings from a qualitative study based on interviews with 34 lone parents both before and after their move to JSA, carried out between January and August 2009. Before the move, parents expected to feel under considerable pressure to find work once they were on JSA. Once they were on JSA many parents did indeed feel under pressure and some were applying for jobs that would not really be suitable. In general the increase in pressure was not accompanied by more support to find a job; once on JSA many parents said that they had not had any support or advice about job hunting apart from hurried fortnightly sign-on appointments. Many parents said that they felt the Jobseekers Allowance is more stigmatised than Income Support, and parents felt embarrassed about signing on at the Jobcentre. The change to fortnightly payments also was very unpopular and caused problems for many parents. There was evidence that parents are not getting enough clear information about the change to JSA. Some parents did not know well in advance when their benefits would change, others were worried that their JSA might be stopped if they didnt find work, and many did not understand the conditions and flexibilities around JSA. Many of these parents had health conditions or other responsibilities that would make it difficult for them to work, and many had children with health issues or problems at school. Channel 4 News (2011) broadcast this as the new welfare reforms for single parents coming into force, and that lone parents are being set up to fail by the new proposals. (Gingerbread, 2011). Gordon went on to state that older policies that had been pushed through and pursued by the Conservatives in the 80s and 90s had resulted in a large increase in low-income households and families. This only changed when New Labour came to power in 1997 they changed direction and focused their policies on making work pay by creating a liveable minimum wage and a welfare ideology within society, which emphasised the importance of maternal care. They created the making work pay strategy which they hoped would in the long term lower the numbers of people, including lone parents, who were welfare dependant. It was aimed at all groups who were seen as vulnerable and suffering under the older system and was especially helpful to lone parents as it included increased financially supported childcare and a specific New Deal which started after the 1997 election. The deal was a voluntary programme which offered help and support for lone parents who wished to return to work or make an attempt to do so. It included job search support and the training needed, along with personal support, to help lone parents attempt to adjust and prepare for the transition to work however one of the flaws that developed was that there was limited opportunities for the training amongst lone parents. Government policies that are designed to help vulnerable groups, including lone parents, get back into the working environment and reduce the levels of poverty within society could had a profound difference and change the quality of life for lone parent families. (Gregg, Harkness and Smith, 2007) It is obvious that Social Workers must be aware of lone paretns and their daily struggle with poverty and employment. It is a current and big issue within socieity and poverty is a key and defining feature in the lives of many service users. (Cunningham Cunningham, 2008) They go further by statting that sociology is a key component and skill for Social Workers to learn and understand so that they can use it in their practice to under pin the Codes of Practice set forth by the General Social Care Council. The same codes that state that all Social Workers must have appropriate knowledge and skills to provide social care and keep those skills and knowledge up to date. (GSCC, 2002) Reducing welfare dependency for lone parents could result in reduced welfare expenditure and maximised employment rates along with improved socio-political impact for women however the financial incentives for work has to be substantive and sustainable to reduce the risk of in-work poverty. (Knijn, Martin and Millar, 2007). Finch et al (2004) suggested that a lack of good childcare was one of the significant barriers to the governments target to increase the lone parent employment rate to 70 % by 2010. In the budget address of 2010, George Osborne stated that the government expects lone parents to look for work when their youngest child goes to school. These changes were then implemented on 25 October 2010 and affected lone parents claiming income support. The Job Seekers Allowance Regulations 2010 also changed the policy too making it that once children are of full time school age, parents who are able to work and are claiming benefits should be expected to look for paid work to support themselves and their family. Gingerbread, is still calling on the Coalition Government to implement plans to enable all employees to apply for flexible working, to ensure all jobs in the public sector are offered on a part- time or flexible basis and introduce a right to paid parental leave to help parents deal with time off when children are ill. (Ahrends, 2009) Ahrends goes onto state that David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg all pledged to challenge prejudice against single parents in 2010 and the newly elected Coalition Government further stated that it was committed to introducing flexible working for all and launched a taskforce on children and families. Unfortunately 9 months later this same government has scraped regulations and introduced new ones which came into force April 2011 as part of a package of measures to reduce bureaucracy for businesses. It means firms with fewer than 10 employees from all new red tape for three years as it subjects 21,000 pieces of regulation to an audit by the public. (Stratton and Wintour, 2011) This will see a shelving of the right to request flexible working for parents with children under 17 which will apply to all firms, not just small ones. It will also scrap the right to request time for training and education toward continuous professional development. Single parents often want to work, but finding jobs to fit around the school day is very difficult; as is finding and paying for suitable good quality childcare before and after the school day. (Freegard, 2010). It is also important to note that family friendly jobs are still far too rare despite the Government requiring 100,000 single parents to seek work in 2011. (Woods, 2011) There has also been calls for the Government to move faster on plans for flexible working hours for lone parents however business case for flexible working has been proven with most employers agreeing that people work best when they have a work/life balance. (Weir, 2011) However it is important to note that in terms of poverty eradication there has been an improvement. Single parents employment rate has certainly risen, from 40% in the early 1980s to 56.6% in 2009. (Giullari, 2009) For the Governments policies to work, there has to be sustainable, flexible work for lone parents to be employed in. Under this welfare ideology one of the key assumptions is that all adults should be in work even if it means precarious employment. (Lewis and Giullari, 2005) Ahrends debates although successive governments have promoted work as the route out of poverty and that many single parents are better off in paid work this is not always the case: 21% of children whose single parent is in full time work still fall below the poverty line, as do 29 % of children whose single parent is working part time. 4 out of 10 children living in poverty are in a single parent household, and 9 out of 10 of them are mothers. More than 20% of women have persistently low incomes, helping, rather than forcing, these women is the answer. Finch et al (2004) discusses that numerous studies have suggested that Britains parents are failing, children are miserable and have poor moral, social and intellectual upbringing. And it has been said that children from single parent families are worse behaved, children raised by single mothers are twice as likely to misbehave as those born into traditional two-parent families. (Paton, 2011) When a lone parent starts work, there are many changes to daily life. and the lives of their families and other family members. All of this including the social, work, carer and school settings are key elements to work sustainability; this has not yet been systematically explored in research. (Millar and Ridge, 2009) Lone parents are a growing group in Great Britain and elsewhere and now represent one quarter of families with children (Haskey 2002). In the longer term, perhaps one half of British children will pass through a non-intact family at some stage in their childhood. Lone parents have been an important area of social policy study, given their high rates of receipt of social assistance. Their low incomes may be traced to low rates of economic activity, low rates of maintenance receipt, and relatively lower earnings when in paid work. A lot of single parents do want to work and for good reasons such as the sense of financial independence they get but also to set good examples for their children however with the current changes to the social policies surrounding lone parents and their benefits and the forthcoming changes mean that they feel isolated and vulnerable. In conclusion lone parents are facing a changing environment due to the budget cuts and the reduction in services. With the Coalition Government there has been a shift away from supporting lone parents being full time carers at home to an employment-based maternal model. There is a rhetoric focus and direction towards supporting employment and now the move to compulsory work-related requirements. Lone parents with children five years or over are treated the same as any other unemployed claimant. (Woods, 2011) Family-friendly employment with a work/life balance are not now part of the governments policies and without action from both the Government and employers, many single parents will remain in the poverty trap. (Woods, 2011) Word Count: 2508

Cultivating an Affirmation of the Past in the Poem “Digging”

The significance of the past is given an affirmation in the poem, â€Å"Digging,† written by Nobel Prize awardee Seamus Heaney. The persona in the poem takes a nostalgic trip into his past, reminiscing about the old days when he watched and participated in potato farming with his father and grandfather. Both men handle toil and hard work with excellence; this is emphasized when the persona states his admiration for the grace and competence exhibited by the men: â€Å"By God, the old man could handle a spade/Just like his old man. † (15-16) However, the demarcation line between the persona and his earlier generation is clearly defined early on.In the first two lines of the poem, he establishes the idea that he is a writer; a man who prefers handling a pen, symbolizing academic and artistic profession, over a handling a spade, symbolizing hard labor, â€Å"Between my finger and my thumb/The squat pen rests; snug as a gun. † (lines 1-2) Nevertheless, the value and p ride of each separate work is equally praised by the persona. He conveys the idea that there is no difference if one uses a pen, or a spade in work, no difference when one plows a field or scribbles on paper. The only important thing is the love and passion one dedicates to one’s profession or work.

Introductory Economics Cheatsheet

Problems by Command 1. Information collection 2. Principal-agent 3. Disagreement among multiple decision-makers. Arrows’ impossibility theorem. Paradox of voting. 4. Enforcement Coordination by Market Princes as signals of scarcity/abundance Induces coordination Requires much less info No enforcement costs No principal-agent problem No problem with multiple decision makers Qualification: some command systems exist within a market (eg firms) Public Good Has free-rider problem due to non-excludability. Can only be provided by a coercive authority that can force users to pay for these goods. Taxes. Collective GoodsProvide benefits for a group. Cartels and Unions Has free riding problem. Prevent by sanctions Common Resources Non-excludable but exhaustible Natural resources goods Lack of well-defined property rights encourages overuse. The tragedy of the commons. Solve by asserting ownership rights over common resources. Coarse theorem Markets generate themselves for property trans fer that internalize externalities. Adverse selection & Moral hazard Market price based on expected quality Reward people for not maintaining quality High quality sellers drop out Cycle continues Market collapse FDI promotes technology transfer without moral hazard.Equilibrium – no one has an incentive to change their behavior. Price ceiling Cause a shortage due to excess demand Leads to rationing or preferential allocation, long queues, inefficiency. Those who do get will benefit from the lower prices. Price floor Eg Minimum wage Only those workers who don’t lose their jobs benefit from the higher wages. Consumer surplus When price goes down, CS increase due to 2 reasons. Existing buyers pay less. More buyers are able to enter market. Producer surplus Markets select low cost suppliers. Only those whose costs of production are below the market price enter.When price goes down, ‘marginal seller’ drops out. When price goes up, PS increases due to 2 reasons. Existing producer get a higher price. More producers can enter. Total welfare = CS + PS Govt intervention decreases this Factors of demand Income & substitution effect Change in tastes Expectation of future prices Change in number of buyers Factors of supply Change in technology Change in input prices Expectation of future prices Change in number of sellers Elasticity Price elasticity of demand for a good is the % change in demand when the good’s price falls by 1%. Elasticity along a linear demand curve decreases with a decrease in price.Factors affecting elasticity of demand Number of substitutes/whether the good is a necessity/time frame/broadness of category Income elasticity of demand is the % increase in its demand for a 1% rise in income. Indifference curve Non-lexicographic and non-satiation Convex to origin – preference for variety Cant cross each other due to consistency and transitivity Marginal rate of substitution(MRS) Negative of an indifference curve†™s slope at any point Equal to the ratio of marginal utilities of the 2 goods at that point Slope of budget line is the negative of the relative prices of the 2 goods.At tangent, slope of budget line and slope of indifference curve must be equal. MRS=relative prices at this point The ratio of marginal utility to price is equal for both goods at the point chosen (equimarginal principle) Income and substitution effect Cost curve AFC=TFC/Q, AVC=TVC/Q, ATC=AFC+AVC AFC declining with Q. AVC first falls then rises. U shaped. Rising marginal cost. When MCMC. No supply curve. MC Pricing P=MC, lead to losses for natural monopoly, which govt can subsidize. But tax has its own deadweight loss. P=ATC , zero profits. Alternative, public ownership Price discriminationIncrease monopolist profits First degree – extract entire CS, socially optimal but unlikely Second degree – Charge buyers based on observable characteristics Third degree – separated markets Quantity discounts Contestable Market No barrier to entry Maintain monopoly only due to the fact that it entered first P=MC, zero economic profits Durable Goods Monopoly MC=0 Compete against its future price Cartels and collusion Incentive that monopoly profits are higher Each has an incentive to sell more than the agreed amount, resulting in a collapse of the agreement. Bertrand duopoly Assumption constant MC.Equilibrium at AC=MC. Naive thinking and no capacity constraint and price easily adjusted Sweezy model Each firm assumes that if it cuts its price, this will be matched by all its rivals while if it increase its price, it will not be matched. Perceive demand curve to be very inelastic below the existing price and very elastic above existing price. Result in price rigidity Reverse kink Each firm assumes that its price increases will be matched by all rivals, while its price cuts will not. Demand curve becomes elastic below the existing price as the cut speedily increases the demand for this firmà ¢â‚¬â„¢s product.Inelastic above the existing price. Result in price instability. Likely during depression. Competition in output Cournet Model Supposes wrongly that other firms will not react to its own output decisions. Will not result in zero-profit outcome. MR=MC. Monopolistic competition Large number of sellers with differentiated products No barriers to entry Each firm faces a downward sloping demand curve Short run, try to max profits by MR=MC. Due to free entry, more firms enter in long run as long as positive economic profits are made. Shifts demand curve to the less are market share reduced. Long run equilibrium, P=AC.Not at minimum of AC curve, thus inefficiency as each firm has excess capacity. Provide more variety though. Game theory Dominant strategy equilibrium No incentive to deviate as none of the players can do better by choosing a different strategy. Nash Equilibrium Each player has no incentive to deviate by himself. Each guess what other player choose. Coordinat ion problem Multiple equilibrium Solve by convention Focal point – higher payoff for 1 equilibrium Zero-sum games Solve by maximin rule – maximize his minimum payoffs. Repeated games Grim trigger strategy cannot work if the game is repeated a known finite number of times.If infinitely, can sustain if they do not discount the future heavily(sufficient weight to future punishments). Discount factor > 1/3. Sequential game Backward induction – work backwards to solve Subgame perfect Nash equilibrium – additional property of ruling out empty threat GDP – the market value of all final goods and services produced within a country in a given period of time Relies on market prices Includes market value of the stream of services from durable goods Miss out value of non market services Excludes transfer payments Consumption + Investment + Government spending + Net exportY=C+I+G+NX GDP deflator = (Nominal GDP/real GDP)*100 GDP per capita flawed as a welfare me asure as it excludes value of leisure, clean environment, and safety. CPI measures the cost of a fixed basket of goods bought by a typical consumer. Overstates cost of living because of substitution bias. Introduction of new goods and thus increased living standards is not reflected. Quality changes is not measure. GDP deflator includes goods not bought by typical consumer. CPI includes imports. Real interest=nominal interest – inflation Productivity is a key to rapid growth. Physical capitalHuman capital Natural resources Technology Y= AF(L, K, H, N) Productivity is given by Y/L = AF(1, K/L, H/L, N/L) Technology progress continuously expands the resource frontier. Phases of rapid growth have occurred when a technological innovation opens up a new elastic supply source. Eg Industrial revolution, Railway boom, IT. Policies to promote growth Encourage savings and investment. Diminishing marginal productivity of capital implies that high saving will no longer lead to fast growth beyond a point. Convergence effect. Encourage FDI. Builds up physical and human capital accumulation.Has learning effects through tech transfer and positive externalities. Education. Secure system of property rights Lack of corruption or political instability Pursuing free trade Population growth can lead to lower capital-labor ratio which might decrease productivity Also inefficiency in human capital accumulation as same educational facilities spread thinly Large families may keep woman out of labor force which reduces total productivity C and IM tend to increase as national income rise. So C= C+cY, IM=IM+mY where c and m are marginal propensity to consume and import. An increase in GDP of $1 increases C by c and IM by m. c,m

Essay on Development of Mass Media - 1402 Words

Many forms of mass media exist: radio, television, film, internet, email, blogs etc. Yet how these forms of media contribute to the growth of media, was never asked? Some would say that its solely because of the variety mediums, some would say that mediums was built for the 20th century, and some would say that mediums were destined and directed to grow to this point. Ever since the first form of mass media in the late 15th century called print, the dynamics of mass media continued to blossom. Mass media touches so many points of a person’s life and gives people the choice to explore your own means of interest, for example entertainment, or informative sources. Media brings today’s way of life to another level, and embeds its own mark in†¦show more content†¦The technology improvement will be the foundation of the newspaper, books, and articles reaching a mass scale. â€Å"For the existence as well as the organization of every society communication is a fundamental and vital process (Joe Kingsly,The role of mass media in community development, Introduction.)† Knowledge before the time of print press was held only by a few that preached on what was read. The development of print press opened the door for people to self-educate and expand on their paradigm known at the time. For example, religion before the twenty first century was the highest form of power a person could have. Therefore the people that spread the word of the dominating religion were usually the people that held the written word. This kept the peoples belief in their hands because that’s were the only source to that information was found. The movable type print developed the resource to expand on the volumes and knowledge that was consumed. The people now had just as much power as others that once had it all, but it got better. The movable type print was overrun by the steam powered press, reproducing volumes twice as much as the movable print, Later devising the newspaper commonly known as the people’s university, informing the local p eople and the world. There’s no doubt that print opened the door for other means of media. Internet started with the development of computers around the nineteen fifty’s, approved by the US department ofShow MoreRelatedMass Media and Development6595 Words   |  27 PagesUNIT 2 DEVELOPMENT. 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