More than half of Welsh Homes have one adult out of work.

MORE than half of all Welsh households now contain at least one out-of-work adult, according to bleak new figures released yesterday.

The proportion of homes where every working-age adult has a job has fallen from 50.6%in 2008 to 48.3% at the end of 2009, said the Office for National Statistics.

And in 22.9% of homes no adult aged between 16 and 64 was in work, up from 20.8% at the end of 2008.

The figures underline how hard Wales has been hit by the economic downturn, with worklessness particularly prevalent in post-industrial areas of the South Wales Valleys.

Work less households pose a particular challenge to policymakers, as children who grow up in homes where no-one works can find it more difficult to adapt to the day-to-day disciplines of holding down a job.

We are talking about an inter-generational problem where not only the sons and daughters but the grandchildren are not seeing a role model in work, and the problem is self-perpetuating.

Neath Port Talbot, hit hard by the contraction in the steel industry, has the highest proportion of work less households in Wales, at 30.2%.

( Approximately 25% of people lucky enough to actually have jobs in the Aberavon Constituency work in the Private Sector. With the cutbacks and job losses forecast then the figure of 30.2% is likely to increase even further.)

Proposals to cut housing benefit by 10% for those claiming Job seekers’ Allowance for more than a year have also been criticised as unfair in areas where there are few jobs available.

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www.walesonline.co.uk/news/welsh-politics/welsh-politics-news/2010/11/05/more-than-half-of-welsh-homes-have-one-adult-out-of-work-91466-27604454/
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