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Illiterate school-leavers and workless households are destabilising UK economy, says European Commission
By Hugo Duncan
PUBLISHED: 16:12, 30 May 2012 | UPDATED: 22:57, 30 May 2012

Illiterate school leavers and workless households are causing long-term damage to the British economy, a hard-hitting report warned yesterday.
Poor educational standards and a benefits culture in the UK pose one of the biggest threats to the recovery in the UK, according to the European Commission.
The report found that the failure to make work pay for single mothers and those on benefits meant nearly two million children were growing up in idle households where no one has a job - making it less likely that they will ever work.
Illiterate school leavers and workless households - personified by comedian Matt Lucas's Little Britain character Vicky Pollard - are causing long-term damage to the British economy, a hard-hitting report warns
It raised particular concerns over �weak work incentives� which deter the unemployed from moving off benefits into low-paid jobs.
Brussels said it posed a major risk to the health of the British economy as the country - reeling from the first double-dip recession since 1975 - struggles to compete on a global stage.
The Commission warned that �UK economic activity is expected to remain subdued� and that the main risks in the short-term include the eurozone and high oil prices.

It forecast growth of just 0.5 per cent this year and 1.7 per cent in 2013 - less than the 0.8 per cent and two per cent expected by the Treasury.
The report also warned that many workers, especially the young, are in �precarious jobs� such as part-time and temporary work.
But Brussels urged the government to stick to its plans to cut the �excessive� borrowing of the Labour years at the same time as promoting growth.
The report called for:
Chancellor George Osborne�s Budget plans to be �fully implemented� to tackle one of the biggest deficits in Europe
More investment in infrastructure such as transport and energy to create jobs, kick-start the recovery and the lay the foundations for the future
Reforms to the housing market to boost building and address the �destabilising impact� of high property prices and high levels of mortgage debt
Increased lending to private companies and in particular small and medium sized business starved of the cash they need to prosper.
But some of the biggest challenges facing Britain in the long-term were around education, unemployment and welfare.
�There is a persistently large number of functionally illiterate and innumerate adults in the UK, usually with no qualifications,� the report said.
�The UK continues to have to have too many people with low skills. The economic costs of this problem are likely to increase over time if it is not effectively addressed.�

The report called for housing market reforms to boost building and address the 'destabilising impact' of high property prices and high levels of mortgage debt
Between 2010 and 2020, the number of low-skilled jobs in Britain is expected to fall by 51 per cent while medium and high-skilled jobs will increase by 16 per cent and 21 per cent respectively.
�The UK has an oversupply of low-skilled workers for whom demand is falling and a shortage of workers with high-quality vocational and technical skills,� said the report.
�The UK also continues to have a relatively high number of adults with very poor basic literacy and numeracy skills, who are not well placed to benefit from vocational training.�
It added that Britain �has higher levels of early school leavers than the EU average� - up 3.3 percentage points to 14.9 per cent since 2005.
When he was merely Tory leader, David Cameron was 'shot in the back' by a teenage thug as he visited a crime-ridden council estate in Manchester. Illiterate school-leavers and the workshy remain a serious problem
Unemployment is expected to rise from the current level of 8.2 per cent to 8.5 per cent this year, according to forecasters in Brussels.
�A cap on the total amount of benefit that can be claimed could boost incentives to work,� it added.
There are now 1.9 million children living in households where no one works, or 17.9 per cent of children, the second highest rate in Europe and almost twice the European average and that in France and Germany.
�The lack of high quality and affordable childcare also contributes to the high proportion of workless households,� said the report.
The government is raising the age for leaving compulsory education in England from 16 to 17 in 2013 and to 18 from 2015.
It will also introduce a single Universal Credit next year to replace means-tested benefits in a bid to get more people into work.
A Treasury spokesman said: �The European Commission today said that the UK should fully implement the budgetary strategy for the financial year 2012/13 and reinforce the budgetary strategy for the financial year 2013/14 and beyond. This shows their backing for the UKs plans to deal with its debts in line with the IMF and OECD.�
But shadow Treasury minister Rachel Reeves said: �This is just the latest international organisation to warn that the Conservative-led Government urgently needs a plan for jobs and growth.

This is really good coming from the European Commission the people who are really responsible for destabilising our country, WE WANT A REFERENDUM OR FIGHT OUR WAY OUT.

2Anne · Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 399 Location: Norfolk

Apparantly there are 2 million children living in homes where benefits are the only source of income. These children do not benefit from education and have no working role models as the parents depend entirely on 'social'.
This is very worrying. Jobs for the unskilled are becoming scarcer and are set to decline 50% in the next 10 years or so and we have a shortage of technocrats.
When you pay dross to breed this is what you get. These people will expect the tax payer to support them from birth to grave!!!