Who should Labour target to ‘get Britain working’?

Labour talks of having the ‘bold ambition of an 80 per cent employment rate’. But who should they target to get there? The government published its white paper this week on ‘getting Britain working’ and tackling the growing health and disability benefits bill, which is forecast to hit £120 billion. 

Figures slipped out by the Office for National Statistics today give more insight on which groups could perhaps be better targeted. These figures split out employment rates by parental status, and show that already more than 80 per cent of married (or cohabiting) mothers and 93 per cent of married (or cohabiting) fathers with dependent children are working. This doesn’t leave a huge amount of room for boosting the employment rate in a huge section of the population.

The groups below the 80 per cent target include men and women without kids that depend on them (72 per cent and 70 per cent). But the lowest employment rate is among the single parent group, which sits at just 66 per cent.