Changing Pattern of Poverty 1997-2004

It has been noted that failure to meet the target set by government for reducing the head count ratio of child poverty in Britain is partly due to the success of government policy in generating economic growth. Apart from missing the argument that absolute poverty is not a meaningful idea, this apology for the failure of government to meet poverty targets also misses wider problems embedded in recent trends in the household income distribution. For example, inequality measures sensitive to the distribution of income amongst the poor suggest that the experience of those remained poor may have worsened.