Wales has the highest proportion of low income households in Britain

Yr Aflonyddwch Mawr has been continuously pointing out the increasing poverty in Wales since our foundation in March 2012.

We published an Emergency 10 Point Plan on May 1st 2013 for discussion has the British and Unionist Parties including Plaid Cymru have no policy except managed decline of a green washed Neo Liberal Wales within the British State.

Many words are spoken about poverty it is time for action in Wales

  

Statement of Yr Aflonyddwch Mawr - The Great Unrest Group

 

19th September 2013

 

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation  says Wales has the highest proportion of low income households in Britain

There is more poverty in working households in Wales than in non-working ones, a study has claimed.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found both a "rising tide" of in-work poverty and the highest proportion of households on a low income in Britain.

The social policy research charity blamed "a low pay, no pay jobs market".

On average between 2009/10 and 20011/12, 23% of people in Wales (690,000) were living in poverty - compared with 22% in England and 18% in Scotland.

Households are classed as being in relative poverty if they live on less than 60% of the median - or middle - income.

Of the people living in poverty, the report found there are more adults who have a job (285,000 on average in the three years to 2010/11) than not (275,000).
'Trapping families'

Poverty amongst people working is most prevalent in rural communities, whereas urban areas have a higher number of people living in out-of-work poverty.

 

As a proportion of their working-age populations, the west (Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion) and north Wales had a high share of in-work poverty, measuring 17% and 28% respectively.

The south Wales valleys (33%) and councils south of the M4, such as Bridgend and the Vale of Glamorgan (22%), have a higher share of out-of-work poverty.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation report written by the New Policy Institute describes "a low pay, no pay jobs market that is trapping families in poverty - the working poor are the modern face of hardship in Wales".

Adam Tinson, Research Analyst at the New Policy Institute and the report's co-author, said: "Wages haven't been growing fast enough to meet rising costs and more people are in working families that work fewer hours."

This report does not just spell out the extent of in-work poverty in Wales, it also shows the varying patterns between our urban and more rural communities.

It highlights the high proportion of low-paid jobs in those areas
.
Examine the details of the InfoBaseCymru website and you can see evidence of the vast disparity of incomes within Wales, let alone the UK.

The ward of Mold South has the highest average income at more than £60,000 a year while Tredegar Park 2 on the west of Newport is the Welsh council ward with the lowest average income of just under £19,000.

Almost a quarter of people in Wales (23%) are currently living in poverty, according to the latest data - a figure that has hardly changed since devolution.

After accounting for the cost of housing, about a third of children in Wales are from homes classed as living in poverty.

Statistics released in June 2013 show the figure rose from 31% to 33%