27 January 2005 - Minister hails drop in workless households
Minister for Work Jane Kennedy today welcomed new figures showing a large drop in the number of workless households in the UK, with one of the biggest falls amongst lone parent homes.
Ms Kennedy said: “Welfare to work is working. There are fewer people on lone parent benefits and fewer lone parents without work. This is a sure sign that support offered by the New Deal for Lone Parents and Jobcentre Plus is making a difference to people’s lives.”
The figures show that the number of lone parents living in workless households has dropped by 37,000 in a year. Other figures published recently show that the number of people claiming lone parent benefits is down 208,000 since 1997.
Today the employment rate for lone parents is at a record high of 54.3% with almost 1 million in work.
Ms Kennedy continued: “I’m also very pleased to see that the number of children who live in households where no-one works has dropped substantially – by 127,000 in just one year.
“Work is the best route out of poverty. Since 1997 the Government has lifted 600,000 children out of relative poverty and remains fully committed to its ambitious target of eradicating child poverty by 2020.”
The new figures from the Office for National Statistics also reveal that the overall number of workless working-age households has fallen by 18,000 in a year and 112,000 in the last five years.
The number of people of working age living in workless households was down 25,000 since last year and down 121,000 on five years ago as people take advantage of the record number of jobs in the economy.
The most recent labour market statistics show that over a quarter of a million people have moved into work in the last year alone and more
Notes for editors
- A household is defined as a single person, or a group of people living at the same address who have the address as their only or main residence and either share one main meal a day or share living accommodation (or both). Households may contain more than one family unit.
- A working-age household is a household that includes at least one person of working age, that is a woman aged 16 to 59 or a man aged 16 to 64.
- A workless household is a household that includes at least one person of working age where no-one aged 16 or over is in employment.
- Children refers to anyone under 16.
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