Alternative measure of poverty rises under Labour
http://www.ifs.org.uk/pr/hhspend.pdf
When household spending, rather than income, is used to measure living
standards, relative poverty in Britain has risen, rather than fallen, since
1997, finds a new study by researchers from the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The study, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, suggests that a useful
alternative definition of relative poverty would be living in a household
which spends less than 60% of the median-spending household, rather than the
measure most used by the government, which is to be living in a household
whose income is less than 60% of the medianincome household. Using this
alternative measure, the study finds that:
• The poverty rate based on household spending rose from 20% to 22% between
1996/97 and 2002/03. This compares to a fall from 25% to 22% in the
conventional poverty rate measured using income.
• The rate of child poverty based on household spending rose by 11 per cent
between 1996/97 and 2002/03, whereas the measure of child poverty targeted
by the Government, based on income, fell by 15 per cent over the same
period.
• Pensioner poverty has remained roughly unchanged since 1996/97 when
measured using household spending, but has fallen rapidly when measured
using income.
Paul Ashton
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2006-06-16
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