Gender pay gap ‘widest after 30’

The gender pay gap more than trebles when women reach their 30s, often because of a “motherhood penalty”, research shows.

A report by the TUC found women of all ages earned less than men, but the difference was greatest after they passed 30, rising to more than 20% between the ages of 50 and 59.

Women were also twice as likely as men to be poor, the study showed.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “We all expect our wages to increase as our careers progress. But women’s wages start to stagnate as early as their 30s and many are paying an unacceptable penalty simply for having children.

“Despite girls outperforming boys at school and at university, too many employers are still failing to make use of women’s skills.

“This waste of talent isn’t just hurting their take-home pay, it’s harming the UK economy too.

“When women earn poverty-level wages, the whole family suffers.

“If the Government is serious about ending child poverty, it must raise family income by creating better paid, quality part-time work for Britain’s 7.5 million part-time workers.”

The report was published before the TUC Women’s Conference, which opens in Eastbourne on Tuesday.

http://news.aol.co.uk/gender-pay-gap-widest-after-30/article/20080310221609990002

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

IPSRIGHTS: A Fifth of EU Children in PovertyBy David CroninApril 3, 2008 Minimum levels of expenditure on addressing the causes of child poverty shouldbe introduced across the European Union, according to a parliamentarian taskedwith analysing the problem. Some 19 million children live in poverty in the EU, about a fifth of the bloc’scitizens below the age of 18. While Gabriele Zimmer, a German left-wing member of the European Parliament(MEP), described the statistic as “almost unbelievable”, she indicated that itwould be even higher if it was expanded to include young asylum-seekers andundocumented migrants. Zimmer is currently preparing an official report for theParliament on child poverty. As expenditure on child welfare varies considerably between the EU’s 27countries, Zimmer is urging that the idea of setting common rules for whatproportion of national income should be devoted to education, child health,social housing and related services should be examined. “We need a discussionabout the level of minimum subsistence,” she told IPS. “This is necessary.” At least 8 percent of each EU country’s national income should be spent oneducation, Zimmer said. At present, the average for industrialised countries is6.2 percent. “You can’t treat poverty without looking at the questions of minimum income andminimum wages,” she added. “You always have to know what the consequences areif people are not paid enough.” Since its inception five decades ago, the EU as a whole has shied away fromtelling individual member states how much they should allocate to socialservices in their national budgets. Whereas the principal agreements on whichEU law are based have lacked any reference to children’s rights, this hastheoretically been rectified by the new Lisbon treaty, which is currently goingthrough a process of ratification. With the treaty committing the EU to promoting “protection of the rights of thechild”, its supporters have argued that it will oblige policy-makers to takeaccount of how each decision they take will affect children. Yet its opponents suggest that efforts to ensure that each family enjoys anadequate income for rearing children may be undermined by clauses on economicpolicy they regard as neo-liberal. For example, the treaty says thatcompetition must not be ‘distorted’. Some companies have argued that thesetting of minimum wages amounts to such a distortion. Proinsias de Rossa, an Irish Labour MEP who is campaigning for a ‘Yes’ vote inhis country’s referendum on the Lisbon treaty, which is expected in May orJune, nonetheless argued that the “pre-eminence” the EU is giving to freemarket policies is driving down social standards. A December 2007 ruling by the European Court of Justice which attacked minimumwages in Sweden has “thrown Europe into disarray,” he said. In that case, thecourt ruled in favour of Laval, a Latvian construction firm, which won acontract to build a school in Vaxholm, Sweden. Laval withdrew from the project after it became embroiled in a bitter disputewith Swedish trade unions because it sought to pay its workers Latvian wages,which were between one-tenth and one-fifth of those paid in Sweden. Accordingto the court, efforts by the Swedish unions to force a foreign company tonegotiate on pay violated the freedom to provide services. De Rossa said that the Laval verdict has raised fears that ‘social dumping’ —the relocation of companies to countries where they can pay lower wages —“will become the norm. “If we have social dumping, we certainly cannot deal with child poverty,” hesaid. In a study published last year, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef)examined relative poverty among children — growing up in a household with lessthan half of the average national income — in 21 industrialised countries,mostly in Europe. It found that hardship was lowest in Denmark, Finland, Norwayand Sweden but highest in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Britain and the U.S. Dominic Richardson, a policy analyst with the Organisation for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD), a grouping of nominally rich countries,said that poverty is especially prevalent among children growing up insingle-parent households. While the average rate of poverty for lone parents in the OECD is 31 percent,the figure rises to more than 40 percent in Ireland, the Czech Republic,Germany, Luxembourg and Spain. Richardson noted that lone parents in Belgium, Hungary and Italy are paidsupplements to the general family allowances offered by the state. But manyother EU countries do not provide anything extra for single mothers or fathers. Hugh Frazer, a professor with Ireland’s Maynooth University, said that researchfrom his country “shows that poverty in childhood leads to poverty inadulthood.” By leading to reduced economic activity, child poverty can havemajor costs for entire countries. “This is particularly significant at a timewhen we have an ageing population (in Europe),” he said. He argued that a “broad-range approach” is required “if we are to makeprogress.” This would include boosting access to reasonably paid jobs, theprovision of better social services, and ensuring that children are consultedabout decisions that affect them. Frazer voiced optimism about the recognition given to children’s rights in theLisbon treaty. “This may lead to stronger action at European level,” he said. “At least, I hope it does.

“”Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

from BBC mundo 22^nd April 08

El precio del trigo se duplicó en el último año.

También se encareció en 75% el arroz y la soja, y 30% el maíz.

En Bangladesh, un paquete de arroz cuesta la mitad del ingreso diario de la población.

En Sierra leona el valor del arroz se triplicó en el último año.

En 12 meses el precio del trigo en Egipto se quintuplicó.

En China los alimentos se encarecieron 20% en el último mes.

Translated

the price of wheat doubled last year

Rice and soya went up 75%, corn 30%

In Bangladesh a packet of rice costs half of the average daily income

In sierra Leone rice tripled last year

In 12 months the price of wheat went up 500%

In china food went up 20% last month

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”

Charity sees poverty aid calls rise

A charity that gives grants to people facing poverty has seen a 400% jump in the number of people contacting it for help during the past six weeks.

Elizabeth Finn Care, which has given out £13 million in direct grants during the past five years, blamed the increasing numbers of people who are struggling to make ends meet on soaring living costs.

The group said people were facing a “quadruple whammy” of rising food, petrol and utility bills, combined with higher mortgage repayments as a result of the credit crunch and people coming to the end of short-term fixed rate deals.

It said the combination of these pressures was pushing increasing numbers of people over the edge.

Bryan Clover, director of casework at Elizabeth Finn Care said: “As a charity, we’re acutely aware that the modern world, with its rising mortgage rates, increasing utility bills and rising food and fuels costs, can cause major problems for some people.

“Combine this with individual personal problems, such as family breakdown or ill-health, and the overall effect can be devastating.”

The group also said that many nurses and teachers faced poverty in retirement and financial insecurity if they were unable to work. It said 40% of the people it helped came from either a nursing or teaching background, although it put some of this down to the professions being well informed about the charity and its work.

It said around half the people from these professions who contacted it for help faced poverty after having to unexpectedly stop working, while half simply could not make ends meet during retirement.

But the group said the plight of former nurses and teachers was going unnoticed by the general public, with just 2% of people saying they thought teachers were likely to fall into poverty, while only 9% thought nurses were likely to do so.

Instead 68% of those questioned thought people without qualifications were more likely to fall into poverty than those who had them.

http://money.aol.co.uk/money-news/charity-sees-poverty-aid-calls-rise/article/20080506193509990069

“Red red wine, stay close to me now. All i can do i’ve done, but memories won’t go, no memories won’t go.”