BEATTY, Christina, BENNETT, Cinnamon and HAWKINS, Anna (2021). Managing precarity: food bank use by low-income women workers in a changing welfare regime. Social Policy and Administration: an international journal of policy and research, 55 (5), 981-1000.
|
PDF
Beatty-ManagingPrecarityFood(VoR).pdf - Published Version Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial. Download (1MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Employment had risen to historically high levels in Britain before the coronavirus crisis, however, whereas work is traditionally conceptualised as a route out of poverty this is no longer necessarily the case. Participation in non-standard or low-income work such as zero-hour contracts, involuntary part-time work and self-employment is increasingly a feature of the labour market and in-work benefits which top-up low incomes have been pared back. This case study undertaken in the period before the coronavirus crisis takes a multi-disciplinary approach in relation to three key questions: are working women resorting to food bank use in times of financial hardship?; to what extent is this a function of non-standard working practices?; and is welfare reform a contributing factor? A three-strand approach is taken: a synthesis of literature, an analysis of national data, and in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved with referrals to or delivery of emergency food provision within northern Britain. The findings highlight a growth in precarious employment models since the 2008/2009 recession and how this intersects with increasing conditionality in welfare policy. We contribute to the debate by arguing that ideological driven policy fails to acknowledge structural deficiencies in labour market demand and misattributes responsibility for managing precarious working patterns onto individuals who are already struggling to get by.
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Uncontrolled Keywords: | Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research; Political Science & Public Administration; 1605 Policy and Administration; 1606 Political Science; 1608 Sociology |
Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1111/spol.12707 |
Page Range: | 981-1000 |
SWORD Depositor: | Symplectic Elements |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Elements |
Date Deposited: | 23 Feb 2021 17:03 |
Last Modified: | 13 Aug 2021 12:00 |
URI: | https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28189 |
Actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year