Child poverty in Britain fell in Labour's first term, though by much less than micro-simulation exercises suggested. Nonetheless, the decline is statistically significant, and is greater if measured just in the last 6 months of 2000/1, rather than the whole year. The decline also proves robust to the choice of poverty line, although that which the Government has emphasised (60% of contemporary income) shows a somewhat bigger drop than any other than any other poverty line that is a fraction of median income. Among those who remain poor, the average shortfall in measured income below the poverty line has increased since 1996/7. Looking ahead, the methodology currently used in official poverty statistics may limit the potential to reduce child poverty significantly further.
Authors
Mike Brewer
Tom Clark
Alissa Goodman
Research Fellow University College London
Alissa is an IFS Research Fellow and a Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre for Longitudinal Studies at the UCL Institute of Education.
Journal article details
- Publisher
- Royal Economic Society
- Issue
- June 2003
Suggested citation
M, Brewer and T, Clark and A, Goodman. (2003). 'What really happened to child poverty under Labour's first term?' (2003)
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