Could you live on the minimum wage? Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee took
up the challenge, living in one of the worst council estates in Britain and
taking whatever was on offer at the job centre. What she discovered shocked
even her.Could you live on the minimum wage? Guardian journalist Polly Toynbee took
up the challenge, living in one of the worst council estates in Britain and
taking whatever was on offer at the job centre. What she discovered shocked
even her. In telesales and cake factories, as a hospital porter or a
dinner-lady, she worked at breakneck pace for cut-rate wages, alongside working
mothers and struggling retirees. The service sector is now administered by
seedy agencies offering no prospects, no screening and no commitment. Most
damning of all, Toynbee found that despite the optimism of Tony Blair's New
Deal, the poorly paid effectively earn less than they did thirty years ago.; Britain has the lowest social spending and the highest poverty in Europe.
As the income gap between top and bottom has widened, so social mobility has
shuddered to a halt. The low-paid are caught in an economic double bind that
victimises them and shames the rest of us.
