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AbstractThis article explores the association between mothers' involvement in paid employment when their children are young and their later employment prospects. Using 17 waves of the British Household Panel Survey (1997–2007), it examines the employment trajectories of 954 women for the decade after the birth of their youngest child, asking two main questions. Do mothers who enter or return to work tend to remain in employment? And do wages and job satisfaction further down the line (when the youngest child reaches ten years old) reflect the pathway taken? The article focuses in particular on differences between women with higher- and lower-level qualifications. Mothers are found to be following a variety of employment pathways, with instability relatively common: more than one in three move in and out of work over the period, and this movement is just as common among mothers with higher levels of qualifications as among those with only GCSE-level qualifications or none at all. A stable – and longer – work history is associated with increased wages later on, but the benefits are greater for women with higher levels of qualifications, as might be predicted by human capital theory. Women who were more highly qualified and who moved in and out of work over the decade had an hourly wage when their youngest child was ten which was 31 per cent lower than similar women with a stable work history; for women with few or no qualifications the corresponding figure was 10 per cent and statistically insignificant. For both groups, job satisfaction at the end of the decade was unrelated to the pathway taken.

In its first years in office, the Labour Government set out a wide‐ranging and ambitious set of policies aimed at reducing poverty, inequality and social exclusion. A decade on, with the party facing probable catastrophic defeat in the next general election, how far can these ambitions be said to have been met? This article summarises the evidence. It also examines the most recent government White Paper on social mobility, New Opportunities: Fair Chances for the Future, published in January 2009, and asks whether this paper represents a serious last attempt to renew the equal opportunities agenda.

AbstractUK government policy encourages mothers of young children in low‐income families to enter or return to work, via tax credit subsidies and support for childcare. Maternal employment is seen a central plank in the campaign against child poverty, both because it raises income immediately and because working now is seen as paving the way to better employment prospects in the future. But there is little evidence about medium‐ and long‐term outcomes for mothers entering low‐skilled employment. We know little about how likely such women are to remain in work, let alone how likely they are to progress to higher‐skilled and better‐paid jobs. This article uses the British Lone Parent Cohort, a data set which tracked lone mothers from 1991 to 2001, to examine employment trajectories for up to 560 mothers with a youngest child under five at the start of the period. It creates a typology of trajectories over the decade, identifying the share of women broadly stable in work, those remaining at home and those following unstable pathways between the two. It goes on to explore the factors associated with different pathways, asking whether individual and household characteristics, job characteristics, or changes in circumstances such as new health problems are most important. Finally, the article examines differences in wage progression across groups of women following different pathways, and similarly tries to identify the main factors associated with faster progress.

The European Council recently adopted a list of target indicators for EU member states in the fields of poverty and social exclusion, with likely implications for social policies across Europe. The targets chosen are largely national average figures. This paper argues that if regional disparities are to be taken seriously, all key indicators should instead be measured at regional as well as at national level. Using a variety of data sources, it examines regional indicators of poverty, unemployment, education and health, and shows, first, that the degree of dispersion depends on the indicator under scrutiny; and second, that it is not always the same regions within each country which do best and worst in each case. It follows that a single dispersion measure will only be misleading, while the choice of disparity in regional unemployment rates in particular has additional problems which are also discussed. Finally, the paper draws attention to the limits of currently available data at regional level, in light of the fact that one key aspect of the Lisbon 2000 European Council summit conclusions was a commitment to the collection of better data on poverty and social exclusion in the EU.

The Lisbon summit of the European Council in March 2000 declared the number of people living in poverty and social exclusion in the European Union to be unacceptable, and called for steps to tackle the issue, beginning with the setting of targets for particular indicators. The targets suggested have been broad in nature but have largely concentrated on national averages. This paper seeks to marry this approach with the EU's traditional focus on regional cohesion, by developing regional indicators of well-being and exclusion for EU countries. It draws on a range of sources to put together indicators in five dimensions of well-being: material wellbeing, health, education and participation in two spheres - productive and social. It explores, first, how far national indicators disguise geographical inequalities in these different dimensions; and second, the extent to which regional performance differs according to which dimension is being examined. At the same time, the paper draws attention to the limits of currently available data, in light of the fact that one key aspect of the Lisbon summit conclusions was a commitment to the collection of better data on poverty and social exclusion in the EU.

This major new book provides, for the first time, a detailed evaluation of policies on poverty and social exclusion since 1997, and their effects. Bringing together leading experts in the field, it considers the challenges the government has faced, the policies chosen and the targets set in order to assess results.

This major new book provides, for the first time, a detailed evaluation of policies on poverty and social exclusion since 1997, and their effects. Bringing together leading experts in the field, it considers the challenges the government has faced, the policies chosen and the targets set in order to assess results.