“The Joseph Rowntree Foundation published a study in December testing whether there were three generations of the same family that had never worked. Despite dogged searching, researchers were unable to find such families.”

Their dogged research wasn’t very good then. I could take them to half a dozen such families …..

You know half a dozen families where three generations of the same family that had never worked ? Is it your job or do you socialize extensively with a very untypical and small minority of society ?

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Saying “there’s a couple of people defrauding the system so we’d better dismantle the system and ruin things for people in genuine need” is pretty daft.

It would be better if they were at least consistent and called for the NHS to be dismantled since it’s widely accepted that some people abuse it.

And maybe scrap the 999 emergency service too.

You know half a dozen families where three generations of the same family that had never worked ? Is it your job or do you socialize extensively with a very untypical and small minority of society ?

I come from a council estate, many of the people I went to school with were the same. Some of the non working families I knew from school. As a kid their parents never worked, when I bump into them now they and their parents aren’t working and their kids are working either.

Others I know are from my brothers past association with various families in the Gipton area of Leeds.

So I’ll take that as the latter then.

Well their dogged determination did eventually pay off :

After further searching, we managed to recruit 20 families where there was long-term worklessness across two generations and interviewed family members in depth.

But their initial attempt was fairly extensive :

Together with Andy Furlong at Glasgow University and researchers Johann Roden and Robert Crow, we undertook fieldwork in very deprived neighbourhoods of Glasgow and Middlesbrough. We used every method available to try to locate families with three generations that had never worked, such as spending days surveying clients of job centres, interviewing dozens of organisations that worked in these neighbourhoods, advertising via posters, newsletters and newspaper stories through leafleting and door-knocking and spending months in these neighbourhoods talking to hundreds of residents.
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Despite this, we were unable to find any such families.

The conclusion they came to was :

“It just doesn’t exist on the scale people seem to think it does.”

Which I suspect is fair.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/dec/14/worklessness-culture-myth-exposed

Ernie, I was reply to third generations not working. I know of lot more than half a dozen second generation families not working.

Are you telling me you don’t any at all? If so you must mix in some privileged circles.

I wouldn’t call it epidemic in society like the Conservatives have made out but it certainly is a problem that needs addressing.
My mates brother was proud to be out of work, his kids were also out of work and still are. He was forced to take a job at Sainsburys saying it would only last a couple of weeks. He’s still there and loving the job.

Are you telling me you don’t any at all? If so you must mix in some privileged circles.

I’m telling you that I accept Joseph Rowntree Foundation conclusion summed up here : “”It just doesn’t exist on the scale people seem to think it does.”

And no, I can’t say that I’m personally aware of three generations not working. Yes some of the circles I mix in are privileged, but as a building worker from Croydon I can assure you that I don’t exclusively, or even predominately, mix in those circles.

Not sure if it’s a North – South thing but come round Leeds/Bradford and I’ll gladly introduce to such families.

Croydon has some of the highest levels of unemployment, including long term unemployment, in the country. Specially on the New Addington estate.

http://www.croydonadvertiser.co.uk/New-Addington-s-rate-unemployment-doubled/story-15097045-detail/story.html

Croydon isn’t working: long-term unemployment up 110%