Essay 1 Flashcards
Inequalities
educational attainment, low pay , cost of living and cyclical unemployment This essay will argue that educational attainment is the most important cause of inequality in the modern day.
Lack of educational attainment
Educational attainment is the highest level of education one has. This may not have been as significant in the past, but nowadays it is; as most jobs require qualifications. Therefore people who have higher levels of educational attainment are more likely to have a higher paid job than someone with lower levels of educational attainment.
For example university graduates who hold a high level of educational attainment earn on average £10,000 a year more than the UK median wage. Differing levels of attainment is both a cause and consequence of inequality as on average, children from less deprived backgrounds have much higher levels of attainment, than those from more deprived areas.
An example to back this up would be ; in 2024 , the pass rate for National 5 and higher exams in the most deprived areas in Scotland was 17% lower than least deprived areas.
An individualist would argue this is due to some people trying harder than others in school. However collectivists argue that many children lack equal opportunities to succeed in education, leading to families becoming trapped in a poverty cycle.
Low pay
when a able working adult , in a full time position, still happen to live in poverty: due to such low wage. 67-75% of children who are in poverty ,live in a household with full time working carers.
The national minimum wage is the minimum pay per hour almost all workers are entitled to. The national living wage is higher than the minimum wage- workers receive if they’re over 23. It is currently £11.44 . Why should people be living in poverty? This shows the government isn’t doing enough to stop people in the UK living in poverty.
The 23 minimum wage law discriminates all full time workers that have left home between the ages of 18-22 as they are at a massive disadvantage compared to people over 23 as they could be doing the same job whilst being paid different.
Rising cost of living
the cost of everyday essentials are going up in price. There has been a major rise in the cost of living in recent years, as the prices of many key goods& services such as childcare, electricity, rent and transport have increased much faster than wages have. Those earning minimum wage are seen to struggle during this period as ends begin to be harder to meet.
This widens inequality as lower earners as pushed further into poverty whereas higher earners are more able to afford these price increases. Poverty premium is a term used best for these situations, it means poorer people are required to pay more for essentials. Essentials such as energy , through possible payment meters and expensive ‘ standard variable’ tarifs; loans and credit cards with high interest rates, as well as, insurance that costs more in deprived areas.
Cyclical unemployment
Cyclical unemployment happens during a recession when the demand for supply drops, therefore many low skilled workers are made redundant. These low skilled workers often do warehouse jobs and that explains why a sudden decline in demand would impact the job. For example UK unemployment had risen by over one million percent between 2008-2012 following a financial crisis that caused the UK’s deepest and longest post-war recession this shows the significant rise in unemployment due to people spending less money as they are being cautious with their money incase they become unemployed.
Someone who is richer is more likely to have the resources to cope with a short term period of unemployment and highly skilled people are more likely to be able to find a new job. This shows that richer people can handle a recession better than people who don’t have as much money. This will result in lots of people not living their life as they normally would and would start to make more financial decisions as they are being cautious with money.
Conclusion
To conclude this essay, I began by stating educational attainment is the most apparent cause of wealth and income inequality as those with lower and fewer qualifications aren’t as better off as those with more and higher educational attainment statuses. Individualists would argue this is down to efforts and work ethic however collectivists stand by the fact that many people lack the equal opportunities to overcome this issue in the modern day.
