Over One Million Londoners Living in Poverty: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Over one million people living in working families in London are currently living in poverty, a recently released study showed.
The study released by the New Policy Institute, funded by the Trust for London charity, says that some 1.2 million Londoners living in working families, more than a quarter of its population, live in poverty. The figure shows a 70-percent rise in a decade.
However, the number of people living in destitution in other parts of England has registered a 20-percent rise only.
According to the study, a total of about two million people in the capital are living on low incomes.
The research found that London has witnessed an increase in the number of low-pay jobs for the fifth consecutive year, with about one fifth of those occupations failing to pay the London Living Wage, currently at £9.15 ($14.11) an hour.
Temporary jobs were also at a 10-year high in London, which has also seen a 19-percent increase in rent rates since 2010, the report said. Rent costs in London are currently more than double the average across England, Press TV reported.
Trust for London’s policy and grants director Mubin Haq says a record number of people in London are currently working. However, this has hardly impacted the capital’s poverty rate.
Data already released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that about six million British workers are not receiving enough pay to meet the basic costs of living. Besides London,the living wage is currently £7.85 ($12.10) an hour in most parts of the UK.
Recent figures predict that the number of poor households in Britain will reach about two million by 2020.