5:00pm Thursday 19th August 2010
UP to 5,000 children in Southend live in homes where no one works, according to a report by the Prince’s Trust.
The trust says research shows 15 per cent of children in the borough are growing up in jobless households.
This is higher than the regional average for the East of England, where 12 per cent or 123,000 children are growing up in workless households.
The study by Qa Research, commissioned by the trust, shows children from workless families are significantly more likely to struggle to find a job, as well as feeling less confident about their future.
Nigel Holdcroft, Tory leader of Southend Council, said the authority was commited to tackling unemployment.
He said: “It is very much a priority for us and, notwithstanding the economic climate, it will continue to be so.”
Nearly one in ten young people in the East of England are expecting to end up on benefits because other people around them have.
According to the report, based on interviews with 2,048 16-to-24-year-olds across the UK, young people whose parents do not work are twice as likely as their peers to feel they have no talents.
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