Rise in proportion of Sandwell households in work
More Sandwell households had all adults in work last year, figures show, despite the first fall across the UK in nearly a decade.
The Institute for Public Policy Research criticised the country's social safety net and said the end of coronavirus support measures will only make matters harder for workless families.
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Hide AdOffice for National Statistics data shows 48,335 households in Sandwell had all working age occupants aged 16 or over in employment in 2020 – 50.3% of all those in the area.
This was up from 49% the year before.
There were also 17,296 households in the area with no adults in work, which at 18%, was down from 18.7% in 2019.
Meanwhile, the proportion of mixed households – with at least one working and one workless adult – decreased from 32.5% to 31.6% over this period.
Across England, 58.7% of households were classed as working in 2020, above the UK-wide average of 58.4%.
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Hide AdThe proportion of UK working households was down from 58.8% in 2019 – the first annual fall since 2011.
The IPPR said the furlough scheme helped prevent further unemployment last year, but the number of workless households will almost certainly rise this year as it ends.
Henry Parkes, senior economist at the think tank, added: "The UK social safety net is truly threadbare for workless families without other incomes.
"We have just seen the biggest overnight cut to the welfare state in its history, in the form of the end to the £20 uplift in universal credit.
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Hide Ad"This has come at a time of potentially spiralling food and fuel prices alongside chronic insecurity brought about the pandemic as we head into an uncertain winter. The end to furlough and other support schemes will not help matters."
He called on the Government to restore the £20 uplift, as well as helping people back to work in other ways, including supporting more freely available childcare.
The ONS figures showed there were 2.9 million workless households in the UK last year – containing around 1.3 million children.
In Sandwell, there were 23,605 children in households where no adult had a job last year – up from 16,278 in 2019.
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Hide AdThe Trades Union Congress said Universal Credit support for families who have lost work is not enough to meet basic costs and called for the recent cut to be reversed.
However, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady added: “The rise in unemployment could have been far worse. But millions of families were protected thanks to government, business and unions working together to put in place furlough and other protections."
A Government spokesman said its Plan for Jobs is connecting jobseekers across the country to a record number of vacancies.
He added: “Universal Credit continues to deliver vital support for those both in and out of work and we have provided an additional £500 million to help the most vulnerable with essential costs this winter.”