An assessment of Labour's record on income inequality and poverty

Joyce, Robert; Sibieta, Luke

doi:10.1093/oxrep/grt008

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The Labour governments of 1997 to 2010 presided over large increases in the generosity of social security and tax credits, in large part as a means of pursuing ambitious quantitative child poverty targets for 2010 and 2020 (Joyce and Sibieta, 2013). The term 'tax credits' in Britain is in fact used to describe two very different forms of support: a genuinely work-contingent transfer 9 , currently named Working Tax Credit (WTC), and an additional meanstested element specifically for families with children (Child Tax Credit, CTC) which is available -since 2003 -to low-income families irrespective of work status.…”

Section: The Policy Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Income inequality and the labour market in Britain and the US

Blundell¹,

Joyce²,

Ziliak³

2017

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We study household income inequality in both Great Britain and the United States and the interplay between labour market earnings and the tax system. While both Britain and the US have witnessed secular increases in 90/10 male earnings inequality over the last three decades, this measure of inequality in net family has declined in Britain while it has risen in the US. We examine the interaction between labour market earnings in the family, assortative mating, the tax and benefit system and household income inequality. We find that both countries have witnessed sizeable changes in employment which have primarily occurred on the extensive margin in the US and on the intensive margin in Britain. Increases in the generosity of the welfare system in Britain played a key role in equalizing net income growth across the wage distribution whereas the relatively weak safety net available to non-workers in the US mean this growing group has seen particularly adverse developments in their net incomes.

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Section: The Policy Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Britain, the context for this was that the Labour governments of 1997-2010 were pursuing extremely ambitious child poverty targets, and large increases in the generosity of state transfers were by far the main way in which they managed to move towards (but not meet) them (Joyce and Sibieta, 2013).…”

Section: From Wages To Household Income Inequalitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Income inequality and the labour market in Britain and the US

Blundell¹,

Joyce²,

Ziliak³

2017

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“…Source: Author's calculations. Joyce and Sibieta (2013) quantified the impacts of Labour's direct tax and benefit changes on low-income households with children as a whole. On an entitlements and (direct tax) liabilities basis, the poorest half of children were on average about £4,390 (28%) better off in terms of annual net household income in 2010-11 than they would have been under an unreformed 1997-98 direct tax and benefit system.…”

Section: Child Poverty Since the Late 1990smentioning

confidence: 99%

Child poverty in Britain: recent trends and future prospects

Joyce

2015

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in AbstractThis paper analyses the key trends in child poverty in Britain, with particular focus on changes since the late 1990s when the issue was promoted towards the top of the policy agenda. The position of low-income families with children in the income distribution improved considerably in the late 1990s and early 2000s, recovering much -though not all -of the ground that they had lost on the rest of the population during the 1980s. I show that these gains were heavily dependent on large amounts of additional government spending on cash transfers. Since the mid 2000s, the absolute living standards of poor families with children have stagnated or declined: further reductions in the headline relative income poverty measure since the recession were driven only by falling median income and by the failure of this measure to account for the higher inflation rates faced by poorer households over this period. Looking ahead, it is not clear what mechanisms could bring about the large additional reductions in child poverty that are in theory legally required under the Child Poverty Act, in light of the heavy reliance of past gains on cash transfers, the current fiscal climate, and the current government's lack of a clear and effective child poverty strategy.JEL classification: I32, I38.

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“…This has important impacts on overall poverty rates because, as the figure shows, poverty rates vary greatly by work status. Joyce and Sibieta (2013) showed that this had significant impacts on child poverty -though much smaller impacts than falls in poverty among workless families with children.…”

Section: Absolute Poverty By Work Statusmentioning

confidence: 99%