Where a job is not enough

A report released by the Joseph Rowntree foundation today makes for grim reading. Wales has been identified as having increasing numbers of people experiencing "in-work poverty". In one sense this seems a bit of an oxymoron since we are always given to believe that employment is our passport to making a living. In the last three years, 285,000 adults in employment in Wales were found to be trapped in "in-work poverty". A further 275,000 adults with no employment unsurprisingly found themselves in the same boat. So why is Wales suffering from this apparent anomaly more than its UK neighbours? For one thing, the report points to the plight of those living in rural communites - of whom many in the Principality. That argument falls a bit flat though because England and Scotland both have their fair share of rural communities too. North Wales and West Wales are reported to have the highest rates of "in-work poverty". Because of the way in which the benefits system has been reined in recently, there is no longer the same option to just throw your hands in the air and go back on the dole. The reality is that hundreds of thousands of people are working daily to build up a growing debt. This has caused the Welsh Assembly to promise a "raft of measures" to address the problem. I can barely contain myself with excitement. Scotland and England both have countries connected up by viable bus and train networks. Wales has a good system provided you live in the very North or the very South and wish to travel either East or West. Woe betide you if you want to travel North or South though. Probably more than any other factor, this is the one which the Assembly must put right if those words are to carry any meaning. Otherwise Wales will continue to be three mutually exclusive entities bereft of any meaningful connection. Another great problem in Wales at the moment is the sheer size of the Public Sector. Any country whose Public Sector is that size is going to have problems. It is too top heavy. It is the Private Sector which will see people in jobs which allow them to keep abreast of the cost of living. The problem is that this sector has too few jobs and too many part time jobs. Until Wales is "open for business" this trend looks set to continue. High streets up and down the Principality are dying a slow painful death as local councils continue to do all they can to promote business elsewhere. This, more than anything, has been the most fundamental mistake made at national level in recent times. A report today has just announced poor returns for many people paying in to pension schemes. Rest assured though that this does not include Public Sector employees. With their financially unjustifiable final salary schemes, they are alright Jack. Now I move on to the real problem. Fuel. Because Wales is so spread out, we need to promote an economy in which more people are working locally because the rising cost of petrol and diesel is arguably the biggest contributory factor to the current problem of "in-work poverty". To put it a little less kindly, we have too many busy fools whose days are spent driving to and from their work at a cost they can't really afford. It is not their fault - they are just seeking to support their families. Allied to this is the prohibitive cost of domestic fuel as electric and gas become ever greater luxuries. What now then? I hope this doesn't generate yet another report telling us what we already know. Just for a change, it would be nice to see some action and nicer still to see it being facilitated by people who have an actual understanding of what is really happening out there. I can dream...