tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/disadvantaged-18466/articlesDisadvantaged – The Conversation2024-02-07T13:12:18Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2200312024-02-07T13:12:18Z2024-02-07T13:12:18ZPower outages leave poor communities in the dark longer: Evidence from 15M outages raises questions about recovery times<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573708/original/file-20240206-24-a4nh4l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5168%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Low-income communities often have a longer wait for electricity to come back after outages.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/457a5faae7c84a23947a3e781c5ce4a3">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Electricity is essential to just about everyone – rich and poor, old and young. Yet, when severe storms strike, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities often wait longest to recover.</p>
<p>That isn’t just a perception.</p>
<p>We analyzed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad295">data from over 15 million consumers</a> in 588 U.S. counties who lost power when hurricanes made landfall between January 2017 and October 2020. The results show that poorer communities did indeed wait longer for the lights to go back on.</p>
<p>A 1-decile drop in socioeconomic status in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s <a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html">social vulnerability index</a> was associated with a 6.1% longer outage on average. This corresponds to waiting an extra 170 minutes on average for power to be restored, and sometimes much longer. </p>
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<img alt="Two maps of the southeastern U.S. show a correlation between outages and social vulnerability." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=784&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573707/original/file-20240206-24-n9l871.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=985&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The top map shows the total duration of power outages over eight storms by county. The lower map is a comparison with socioeconomic status taken into account, showing that counties with lower average socioeconomic status have longer outages than expected.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/2/10/pgad295/7286530">Ganz et al, 2023, PNAS Nexus</a></span>
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<h2>Implications for policy and utilities</h2>
<p>One likely reason for this disparity is written into utilities’ <a href="https://www.publicpower.org/system/files/documents/Restoration_Best_Practices_Guidebook_2018.pdf">standard storm recovery policies</a>. Often, these polices prioritize critical infrastructure first when restoring power after an outage, then large commercial and industrial customers. They next seek to recover as many households as they can as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>While this approach may seem procedurally fair, these recovery routines appear to have an unintended effect of often making vulnerable communities wait longer for electricity to be restored. One <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218883">reason may be</a> that these communities are farther from critical infrastructure, or they may be predominantly in older neighborhoods where power infrastructure requires more significant repairs.</p>
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<img alt="A store in Austin, Texas, is closed during a widespread power outage amid a winter cold snap in 2021." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573641/original/file-20240206-23-lotgsh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Commercial areas are often higher on the priority list for faster power recovery in an outage. This store was still closed for several days during Texas’ widespread outages in 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-states-that-a-fiesta-mart-is-closed-because-of-a-power-news-photo/1231222415?adppopup=true">Montinique Monroe/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>The upshot is that households that are <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/hurricanes-hit-the-poor-the-hardest/">already at greater risk</a> from severe weather – whether due to being in flood-prone areas or in vulnerable buildings – and those who are least likely to have insurance or other resources to help them recover are also likely to face the longest storm-caused power outages. Long outages can mean refrigerated food goes bad, no running water and delays in repairing damage, including delays in running fans to dry out water damage and avoid mold.</p>
<p>Our study spanned 108 service regions, including investor-owned utilities, cooperatives and public utilities. The differential impact on poorer communities did not line up with any particular storm, region or individual utility. We also found no correlation with race, ethnicity or housing type. Only average socioeconomic level stood out.</p>
<h2>How to make power recovery less biased</h2>
<p>There are ways to improve power recovery times for everyone, beyond the necessary work of improving the stability of power distribution.</p>
<p>Policymakers and utilities can start by reexamining power restoration practices and power infrastructure maintenance, such as replacing aging utility poles and trimming trees, with disadvantaged communities in mind.</p>
<p>Power providers already have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2021.07.006">granular data on power usage</a> and <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=9913670">grid performance in their service regions</a>. They can begin experimenting with alternative recovery routines that consider the vulnerability of their customers in ways that do not substantially affect average recovery duration.</p>
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<img alt="Two men look at cell phones in the dark on a porch." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573650/original/file-20240206-19-b8ktkh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">People in some Fort Myers, Fla., neighborhoods still lacked water and electricity more than a week after Hurricane Ian in 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sign-states-that-a-fiesta-mart-is-closed-because-of-a-power-news-photo/1231222415?adppopup=true">Montinique Monroe/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>For socioeconomically <a href="https://atlas.eia.gov/pages/04021248819144108b36cbf27327d11c">vulnerable regions</a> that are likely to experience long outages because of their locations and possibly the aging energy infrastructure, utilities and policymakers can proactively ensure that households are well prepared to evacuate or have access to backup sources of power.</p>
<p>For example, the U.S. Department of Energy announced in October 2023 that it would invest in <a href="https://www.energy.gov/gdo/articles/keeping-lights-our-neighborhoods-during-power-outages">developing dozens of resilience hubs and microgrids</a> to help supply local power to key buildings within communities when the wider grid goes down. Louisiana plans several of these hubs, using solar and large-scale batteries, in or near disadvantaged communities.</p>
<p>Policymakers and utilities can also invest in broader energy infrastructure and renewable energy in these vulnerable communities. The U.S. Department of Energy’s <a href="https://www.energy.gov/justice/justice40-initiative">Justice40 program</a> directs that 40% of the benefit from certain federal energy, transportation and housing investments benefit disadvantaged communities. That may help residents who need public help the most.</p>
<p>Severe weather events are <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-intensifying-the-water-cycle-bringing-more-powerful-storms-and-flooding-heres-what-the-science-shows-187951">becoming more common</a> as <a href="https://theconversation.com/2023s-billion-dollar-disasters-list-shattered-the-us-record-with-28-big-weather-and-climate-disasters-amid-earths-hottest-year-on-record-220634">global temperatures rise</a>. That increases the need for better planning and approaches that don’t leave low-income residents in the dark.</p>
<p><em>Chenghao Duan, a Ph.D. student at Georgia Tech, also contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220031/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Researchers tracked power outages after 8 major storms to see how wealth corresponded to recovery time.Chuanyi Ji, Associate Professor of Engineering, Georgia Institute of TechnologyScott C. Ganz, Associate Teaching Professor of Business and Economics, Georgetown UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2167522023-11-06T05:41:48Z2023-11-06T05:41:48ZAlmost 2 million Workforce Australia payments have been suspended in the past year, with devastating impact<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557629/original/file-20231106-17-ql7rgp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=793%2C1013%2C6478%2C3889&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/stressed-man?image_type=photo">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last year the federal government replaced the jobactive employment support program with what was expected to be a more flexible and improved support system for jobseekers, Workforce Australia.</p>
<p>Yet, in the 16 months the contracted-out system has been running, almost 2 million income support payments have been suspended, affecting 70% of participants.</p>
<p>Under the new system, participants must meet a <a href="https://www.workforceaustralia.gov.au/individuals/obligations/learn/points#:%7E:text=You%20must%20meet%20any%20minimum,activities%20to%20earn%20the%20rest.">points target</a> to receive payments.</p>
<p>For example, if the default points target is 100 per month, this can be met by a minimum of four job applications (worth 5 points each) and a mix of other activities. Points targets are adjusted to 60 per month for parents and people with disabilities.</p>
<h2>Why are payments suspended?</h2>
<p>Payment suspensions are supposed to get people to comply with requirements such as attending job interviews and undertaking training, education classes or other activities to reach their points target.</p>
<p>When these criteria are not met, participants are given a two-day grace period to resolve the problem, after which payments are automatically suspended. The suspension remains until the target is met or the suspension is lifted by a job service provider. The average suspension period is four days.</p>
<p>The figure of almost 2 million payment suspensions, cited at a <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Festimate%2F27448%2F0002;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Festimate%2F27448%2F0000%22">Senate Estimates</a> committee meeting last month, showed they have been occurring at an alarming rate since Workforce Australia started.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Man handing document across a desk to another person" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557635/original/file-20231106-19-klr6a9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Workforce Australia participants might be required to attend a certain number of job interviews to reach their points target.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/unemployed-job-interview?image_type=photo&page=4">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Committee member and Greens senator <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Festimate%2F27448%2F0002;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Festimate%2F27448%2F0000%22">Janet Rice</a> highlighted concern about the high suspension rate and representatives from the Department of Employment, which runs the program, agreed it was an issue.</p>
<p>If 70% of participants have been suspended, that makes it very likely some people have lost payments multiple times. These people might be long-term unemployed due to health, disability or discrimination in the workplace.</p>
<p>Suspending payments to these already disadvantaged groups has a devastating impact because income support payments are grossly inadequate. The single person rate of JobSeeker payment is only $749.20 per fortnight, and the maximum rate of Commonwealth rent assistance is $101.07, adding up to $860.27 a fortnight.</p>
<p>Meanwhile an average share house rent in a capital city like Melbourne is $446 per fortnight - with single renters often paying double - and this leaves people without much room for delays to their income support payments.</p>
<h2>The damage caused by suspending payments</h2>
<p><a href="https://research.curtin.edu.au/businesslaw/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/03/AJLE251casey.pdf">Research</a> into the impact of payment suspensions on people’s mental health shows the consequences are dire.</p>
<p>This is especially so during the current cost-of-living crisis when people have enough to worry about just paying rent, buying food or keeping a car on the road. </p>
<p>The harm caused by suspending payments is apparent in my recent analysis of the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Workforce_Australia_Employment_Services/WorkforceAustralia/Submissions">individual submissions</a> to the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House/Workforce_Australia_Employment_Services/WorkforceAustralia">parliamentary inquiry</a> into Workforce Australia.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jobseeker-rule-changes-what-you-must-do-under-the-new-points-based-activation-system-185759">JobSeeker rule changes: what you must do under the new 'points-based activation' system</a>
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<p>I coded the frequency of words relating to poor psychological wellbeing as represented in the table. Of the 69 submissions reviewed, 52 identified how payment suspensions caused high levels of stress and affected trust of the job service provider.</p>
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<p>The word-frequency results show threats to payments have a devastating effect on the mental health of people receiving unemployment payments. Many felt bullied by their job services providers.</p>
<p>The impact of suspensions is reflected in this quote from one of the submissions. As one 53-year-old woman said in her submission:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I would ask you to consider and recognise that those of us who are reliant on this system are deprived of any means to control our circumstances. A system failure, a missed phone call, a misunderstanding or a simple lack of communication can lead to a suspension of payments.</p>
<p>The stress associated with being constantly under threat by the whims of a particular person, system faults or even a missed phone call is immeasurable. That I might be unable to eat, go to the doctor, pay for medication, buy petrol, pay bills on time (so as not to incur further costs), pay for internet/phone … is considerable and has a massive impact for those of us who are living under these unfortunate circumstances. </p>
<p>It effects our physical and emotional health, our ability to participate in our communities, our sense of future and diminishes our sense of self-worth and our accomplishments – reducing them to meaninglessness while keeping us in poverty.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why is the suspension rate so high?</h2>
<p>The suspension rate is high because the criteria people must meet to receive payments are unrealistic, and because job service providers make mistakes.</p>
<p>Some people can’t meet targets or report points under the points model on time, or don’t attend appointments because they’ve been given insufficient notice or the appointments have been scheduled at times they are already working or in training.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.julianhillmp.com/NESA-Conference_2023.html">a speech</a> last month, Labor MP Julian Hill, who heads the parliamentary inquiry into Workforce Australia, told a conference the powers of the system’s providers to make decisions affecting payments was a “major false economy”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victims-now-know-they-were-right-about-robodebt-all-along-let-the-royal-commission-change-the-way-we-talk-about-welfare-209216">Victims now know they were right about robodebt all along. Let the royal commission change the way we talk about welfare</a>
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<p>This “false economy” of payment suspensions has been a fixture of job services requirements for nearly two decades.</p>
<p>Workforce Australia was meant to have addressed this with the points model. Instead, the points reporting is onerous and there is no evidence it improves the employment prospects of people who have been struggling to find work.</p>
<h2>The next steps</h2>
<p>When the parliamentary inquiry into Workforce Australia submits its report this month, it is likely to recommend big changes including returning and payment suspension decisions to the government’s former Human Services department, Services Australia.</p>
<p>If that happens, it will be vital to move swiftly. </p>
<p>As was the case with the former government’s highly discredited and unlawful automated debt assessment and recovery system, <a href="https://robodebt.royalcommission.gov.au/">Robodebt</a>, the widespread use of payment suspensions is unfair and causes acute distress to people already surviving on inadequate income support.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216752/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simone Casey commenced employment with Economic Justice Australia, a peak organisation for community legal centres providing specialist advice to people on their social security issues and rights, after completing the research for this article.</span></em></p>Unrealistic criteria and poor communication are causing people who need it most to lose an important income support.Simone Casey, Research Associate, Centre for People, Organisation and Work, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1840352022-06-21T11:48:59Z2022-06-21T11:48:59ZKids’ neighborhoods can affect their developing brains, a new study finds<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467784/original/file-20220608-25-sm6gka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Children living in low-income neighborhoods with 'hands-off' norms about safety showed higher levels of reactivity in a region of the brain associated with emotion processing and threat detection.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/poor-neighborhood-royalty-free-image/172857417?adppopup=true">DenisTangneyJr/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>Children growing up in more disadvantaged neighborhoods – meaning those with poor housing quality, more poverty and lower levels of employment and education – show observable increases in brain activity when viewing emotional faces on a screen, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101061">our team’s new study</a>. But importantly, we found that this association was true only when the adults in those neighborhoods also did not have strong shared norms about preventing crime and violence.</p>
<p>Our findings emphasize that where children live and the resources of others in the neighborhood may affect brain development. But neighbors may help protect children from these effects on the brain when they are able to build positive social norms about looking out for one another and preventing violence.</p>
<p>To get at these findings, we recruited families from neighborhoods in southern Michigan with above-average levels of disadvantage. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, to measure adolescents’ brain activity while they looked at facial expressions of different emotions. We focused on observing brain activity in the amygdala, a region of the brain <a href="https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1025048802629">responsible for detecting threats and processing emotions</a>. </p>
<p>We used <a href="https://www.neighborhoodatlas.medicine.wisc.edu/">neighborhood census data</a> on factors such as home ownership rates, percentage of families living below the poverty line and percent unemployed to measure neighborhood disadvantage. We then asked randomly selected neighbors of each family to answer questions about the social norms within their neighborhoods, especially regarding shared beliefs about crime and violence prevention. </p>
<p>We found that youth ages 7 to 19 who lived in neighborhoods with more disadvantage had greater reactivity in the amygdala to fearful and angry faces. But neighbors who shared strong social norms, such as believing that adults should do something if children are fighting, seemed to offset this effect. That is, neighborhood disadvantage was related to amygdala reactivity only when neighbors had more hands-off attitudes about preventing violence. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jt_EyDney-4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Family engagement strengthens not only the family but also the health of the community, which in turn can have beneficial effects on child development.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>In 2020, <a href="https://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/6795-children-living-in-high-poverty-areas?loc=1&loct=1">approximately 6.4 million children</a> in the U.S. were living in neighborhoods with poverty rates of 30% or more. Studies show that youths growing up in more impoverished neighborhoods are more likely to perform <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.309">worse in school and have greater mental health problems</a>. </p>
<p>Disadvantaged neighborhoods <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.59.2.77">introduce higher risks for children</a> that go beyond a family’s own resources or environment. This is because these neighborhoods increase children’s exposure to violent crime and physical hazards such as pollution, toxicants and street traffic, and they decrease access to healthy food options and high-quality schools. </p>
<p>Our research, alongside <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12453">other recent studies</a>, highlights that neighborhood disadvantage can get “under the skin.” In other words, it can affect child development by shaping brain structure and function, in addition to affecting other systems of the body, <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2012.00277">like the stress response system</a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, studies show that such <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141114">structural factors</a> as where freeways are built and how neighborhood boundaries are defined can concentrate disadvantage <a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.3594">into specific neighborhoods</a>. This, in turn, makes it harder for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5328.918">neighbors to build strong relationships and norms</a>. So although neighbors can work to promote a more positive environment for children, <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/child-poverty/highlights.html">policy level changes</a> may be needed to help neighbors and families thrive in more disadvantaged neighborhoods. </p>
<h2>What other research is being done</h2>
<p>Recent studies from other researchers have been trying to understand why living in a disadvantaged neighborhood affects brain development and to identify additional factors that may protect children.</p>
<p>For example, in a peer-reviewed study that is not yet published, researchers found that <a href="https://psyarxiv.com/k37rf/">deadly gun violence</a> within a half-mile of children’s houses was related to the communication between brain regions important for emotion processing and self-regulation. And, like our study, they found that this effect was offset by positive neighborhood relationships. </p>
<p>Other work shows that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.01.036">exposure to air pollution</a> from car traffic is associated with differences in how children’s brains develop.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gabriela Suarez receives funding from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and a supplement from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. </span></em></p>The latest findings add to the understanding of how social disadvantage such as poverty and low-quality, unsafe housing can affect early child development.Gabriela Suarez, PhD Candidate in Developmental Psychology, University of MichiganLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1848382022-06-20T19:58:17Z2022-06-20T19:58:17Z‘Getting onto the wait list is a battle in itself’: insiders on what it takes to get social housing<p>Social housing has become extremely difficult to access; in 2021 around <a href="https://cityfutures.ada.unsw.edu.au/documents/685/Waithood_paper.pdf">160,000 households</a> were on the waiting list.</p>
<p>To have any chance of getting a social housing spot in a reasonable time frame, applicants must be on the <em>priority</em> waiting list; people on the general waiting list <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/help/applying-assistance/expected-waiting-times">may never get social housing</a>. </p>
<p>However, to get on the priority list, applicants need to</p>
<ul>
<li>have complex needs</li>
<li>not be in a position to rent privately and</li>
<li>be in danger <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/help/applying-assistance/waiting-times">of becoming homeless</a></li>
<li>show they have tried to find private rental accommodation.</li>
</ul>
<p>In short, they have to prove they are massively disadvantaged. </p>
<p>To find out more, we interviewed 43 people involved in the social housing application process in NSW, Tasmania and Queensland. This included assessment workers, support workers and government staff.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14036096.2022.2085169">study</a>, published in the journal Housing, Theory and Society, found an applicant’s chances of getting on the priority waiting list are much greater if they have help from advocates who know what arguments to make and how. </p>
<p>Success can depend on whether advocates can invest a significant amount of emotional effort to help the applicant and connect them to professionals who can track down supporting documentation.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-one-gets-out-another-gets-in-thousands-of-students-are-hot-bedding-156589">As one gets out, another gets in: thousands of students are 'hot-bedding'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>‘An overwhelming process’</h2>
<p>The application form for social housing is demanding.</p>
<p>In NSW it requires answering 31 questions and – depending on the applicant’s situation – up to 18 supporting documents. </p>
<p>Completing the form optimally requires a fair amount of literacy and “cultural capital” – things such as presenting and speaking “well” or being able to draw on the benefits of a good education.</p>
<p>Claire (all names used are pseudonyms), a NSW community housing provider worker, said even understanding the application form is challenging:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think sometimes it’s the interpretation of what is actually required. What are they asking in this question? And if you don’t have the context of why that question is being asked, sometimes it can be very difficult to know how much information to put [in]. Do I just skip it or […] what do I do with that [question], or what does that even mean?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jess, an assessment team manager in Tasmania, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… [the] majority would need assistance and do get help from supports, family and advocates, as it is onerous. Also literacy, language interpretation would be an issue, especially for lower socio-economic cohorts.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>James, an assessment worker in NSW, said some applicants simply abandon the process:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s really an overwhelming process […] Sometimes people will say, “You know […] this is too much. Forget about it.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Marie, a Queensland homelessness worker, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s more common that they won’t know how to do the process, and so I’ll go through it with them. I assist them with identifying well-being barriers, complete the application with them, get it, and then when it’s approved, also do community housing applications with them if they wish.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1514148611621519363"}"></div></p>
<h2>The challenge of gathering ‘evidence’</h2>
<p>Producing evidence of clients’ vulnerabilities is potentially challenging. </p>
<p>Karim, a homelessness support worker in Queensland, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So, getting onto the wait list, that is a battle in itself, right? [Part of that is] getting people document ready […] So, say someone is on the streets, we know they are very, very unwell, but they don’t have documents to prove that. We have done the housing application, it’s gone to department of housing and they’re waiting for further information, because this person’s checked that they have chronic health issues. So [the department] want medical documents or confidential medical report from the GP. This person does not have a GP. What do we do? We try and link them in with the GP, take them there […]</p>
<p>Lots of people, their stuff’s stolen. They’re more worried about where the next meal is coming from instead of worrying about IDs. So getting ID documents, medical documents to go along with the housing application, to get it approved, is the first battle.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Susan, a women’s refuge worker in Sydney, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Every question has […] evidence requirements […] and they have to gather all of that and you know obviously just gathering all of that is a challenge […] But that’s definitely something that we support them with; to get all the support letters and stuff in order.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Queensland and NSW, an applicant who needs social housing because they are fleeing domestic violence needs to provide substantiation.</p>
<p>Susan told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The types of documents people would have to collect for this question are copies of AVOs (apprehended violence orders), police event numbers, doctor reports (GP or psychiatrist), support letters from social services. So, as you can imagine, these are quite onerous as many people don’t report to police or perhaps their doctor doesn’t record the injuries as resulting from violence. On top of that, if they’ve just experienced violence they might not feel like running around.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/468947/original/file-20220615-23-a089rr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">To get on the priority list, applicants need to be in danger of becoming homeless.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Emotional capital: care, empathy and compassion</h2>
<p>Working with vulnerable people requires empathy and compassion. </p>
<p>Avril, an assessment worker in Tasmania, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So much of it is about rapport. These people who are often really sick of systems, really sick of them and they don’t want to divulge their entire life to someone that they’ve just met once. They don’t want to sit still in a small room for an hour and a half. </p>
<p>What we’ve found is that by having Pat, she’s our specialist rough sleeper front door worker, [and] is based in services that they know and frequent. She’s known to them and they do tend to [open up] bit by bit.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Jill, an ex-manager in a community housing provider in NSW, explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Also refugees or people who are trauma, torture survivors, DFV (domestic and family violence) survivors […] experience additional layers and complexities in applying.</p>
<p>Whilst the system aims to only ask a client to tell their story once and not multiple times, this is not always possible. So it adds further challenges to these applicants and brings up the trauma again, especially if not handled well by untrained staff.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Applying for social housing is fraught, onerous and competitive; applicants have to “prove” their vulnerability is greater than others.</p>
<p>Assistance from skilled advocates clearly helps get you on the priority wait list, which begs the question: what hope do others have? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-ex-prisoners-public-housing-cuts-crime-and-re-incarceration-and-saves-money-180027">Giving ex-prisoners public housing cuts crime and re-incarceration – and saves money</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Morris has received funding from the ARC. This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Clarke receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Parsell receives funding from the ARC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Robinson receives funding from the ARC and would like to acknowledge the particular contribution of Anglicare Tasmania, a partner organisation supporting this research.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jan Idle receives funding from the ARC.</span></em></p>One social housing application assessor told us getting on the priority wait list is so challenging, some applicants abandon the process altogether.Alan Morris, Professor, Institute of Public Policy and Governance, University of Technology SydneyAndrew Clarke, Lecturer, UNSW SydneyCameron Parsell, Professor, School of Social Science, The University of QueenslandCatherine Robinson, Associate Professor in Housing and Communities, University of TasmaniaJan Idle, Research Fellow, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839082022-06-19T19:53:24Z2022-06-19T19:53:24ZFirst, COVID hit disadvantaged communities harder. Now, long COVID delivers them a further blow<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467632/original/file-20220608-22-g11rzi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C5%2C994%2C660&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-businessmanengineering-architect-feeling-exhausted-working-698910067">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Disadvantaged communities not only suffer disproportionately from COVID, they are <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/5/long-covid-sustained-and-multiplied-disadvantage">even more likely</a> to be impacted by the cascading effects of long COVID.</p>
<p>With a new federal government, now is the time to engage in <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/190927-consultants-only-a-short-term-need-while-aps-rebuilds-policy-capacity/">transformative planning</a> to address a range of societal issues, including the impact of the pandemic on the most disadvantaged Australians.</p>
<p>We outline three policy areas to address the impact of long COVID on disadvantaged communities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-is-failing-marginalised-people-and-it-shows-in-covid-death-rates-177224">Australia is failing marginalised people, and it shows in COVID death rates</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Disadvantaged communities already at risk</h2>
<p>The greater impact of pandemics on disadvantaged communities was recognised before COVID.</p>
<p>Along with medical risks such as obesity, these communities already contended with <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11069-019-03584-6/tables/1">social risks</a> such as poverty, unhealthy environments and disability. </p>
<p>The interaction between these risks produces <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/5/long-covid-sustained-and-multiplied-disadvantage">sustained and multiplied disadvantage</a>, compounding existing barriers to health care and other supports.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemic-pain-remains-as-australias-economic-recovery-leaves-the-poor-behind-180238">Pandemic pain remains as Australia’s economic recovery leaves the poor behind</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Then came COVID</h2>
<p>While the pandemic has taken a toll on everyone, there is growing <a href="https://equityhealthj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12939-021-01582-4">international evidence</a> of greater effects on disadvantaged communities. </p>
<p>Communities with greater insecure employment, housing density and linguistic diversity recorded a <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2022/216/7/area-level-social-and-economic-factors-and-local-incidence-sars-cov-2-infections">higher incidence</a> of COVID infections.</p>
<p>Risk factors for poorer clinical outcomes from COVID – such as hypertension (high blood pressure), diabetes and respiratory disorders – are also <a href="https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/covid-19-the-social-determinants-of-health-and-health-equity---who-evidence-brief">more common</a> in disadvantaged communities. </p>
<p>While many developed countries achieved good vaccine uptake, studies report greater <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMe2202547">vaccine inequity</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0248892">hesitancy</a> in these communities.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Mechanic booking in a car for service" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467628/original/file-20220608-16-b7w3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not everyone can work from home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/african-american-car-mechanic-wearing-protective-1866367981">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Low-paid, precarious, essential and manual workers also struggled to adhere to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692320309716">stay-at-home orders</a> and social distancing in the face of food and financial insecurity.</p>
<p>All these factors – some in place before COVID, some new – contribute to a higher risk of COVID for disadvantaged communities. That’s even before we start considering the impact of long COVID.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-lockdowns-ease-vaccination-disparities-risk-further-entrenching-disadvantage-169261">As lockdowns ease, vaccination disparities risk further entrenching disadvantage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How about long COVID?</h2>
<p>Most people with COVID make a full recovery. But for some, symptoms linger. The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/WHO-2019-nCoV-Post_COVID-19_condition-Clinical_case_definition-2021.1">defines</a> long COVID as new, persistent or fluctuating symptoms present three months after COVID infection, lasting at least two months, and not attributable to other diagnoses. </p>
<p>Globally, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35429399/#:%7E:text=Global%20estimated%20pooled%20prevalence%20of,0.25%2C0.46">43% of people</a> with COVID have ongoing symptoms affecting daily life six months after infection. Fatigue and memory problems are the most commonly reported of the diverse symptoms linked to long COVID. However, an <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(21)00102-4/fulltext">Australian study</a> of long COVID estimated 5% of people have symptoms after three months. </p>
<p>So we need to learn more why these percentages differ. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fatigue-after-covid-is-way-more-than-just-feeling-tired-5-tips-on-what-to-do-about-it-179478">Fatigue after COVID is way more than just feeling tired. 5 tips on what to do about it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Long COVID hits disadvantaged communities harder</h2>
<p>In addition to the higher risk of exposure to COVID in the first place, disadvantaged communities lack accessible services and resources to support full recovery. </p>
<p>You can see how issues such as the rising cost of living and the lack of sick pay for casual workers can have a disproportionate impact on <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8241274/">disadvantaged people</a> who need to
return to work before they are fully recovered.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women rubbing side of head at work computer" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467629/original/file-20220608-22-n1iyb3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not everyone can afford to take time off with lingering COVID symptoms.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sick-woman-distracted-work-feeling-unwell-1212177649">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In disadvantaged communities, there are also more barriers to accessing health care, excluding people already experiencing disadvantage.</p>
<p>For example, we know <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/11/6624">asylum seekers and undocumented migrants</a> have experienced worse mental health, social isolation and access to health care than other groups during the pandemic.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://bmchealthservres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12913-022-07858-x">telehealth</a> has opened up access for some, it increases barriers for others. </p>
<p>Geographical location is also a barrier for many Australians with long COVID, with most specialist clinics in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9115157/">metropolitan health services</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-tips-for-young-people-dealing-with-long-covid-from-a-gp-180464">Five tips for young people dealing with long COVID – from a GP</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A growing problem</h2>
<p>The human and financial costs associated with the complex disadvantage resulting from COVID (and long COVID) are vast.</p>
<p>One <a href="https://iht.deakin.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/153/2021/12/Briefing-Paper_Long-Covid_Final.pdf">analysis</a> estimated there would be up to 60,000–133,000 long COVID cases as Australia eased restrictions.</p>
<p>Analyses by the <a href="https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/speech/2022/may/michael-saunders-speech-at-the-resolution-foundation-event">Bank of England</a> and the United States <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/research/is-long-covid-worsening-the-labor-shortage/">Brookings Institute</a> flag long COVID as a significant factor in future labour shortages.</p>
<p>However, we have few mechanisms to measure and track any impacts. Even putting an accurate figure on the number of COVID cases is difficult due to the greater reliance on rapid antigen tests, rather than PCR tests.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-calculated-the-impact-of-long-covid-as-australia-opens-up-even-without-omicron-were-worried-168662">We calculated the impact of 'long COVID' as Australia opens up. Even without Omicron, we're worried</a>
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<h2>What needs to happen next?</h2>
<p>The relationship between long COVID and disadvantage is a collision between two highly complex issues. With <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-many-new-omicron-sub-variants-like-ba-4-and-ba-5-will-i-be-reinfected-is-the-virus-mutating-faster-182274">new variants and reinfections</a>, long COVID will be with us for years, further increasing an already complex (or “wicked”) problem.</p>
<p>However, we are yet to see leadership from local, state and territory, and federal governments on this issue. </p>
<p>Disadvantaged communities (particularly those most affected) are yet to be mobilised, to identify and tackle the local problems most affecting their recovery from COVID. Policies to tackle the disproportionate impact on them are yet to be developed.</p>
<p>These three actions would make a meaningful impact on health equity for everyone with long COVID.</p>
<p><strong>1. Measure and track the issue</strong></p>
<p>We urgently need high-quality data on long COVID to understand the trajectory and duration of recovery, and its interdependence with social determinants of health, for example, living in rural/remote Australia or being unemployed. </p>
<p>Investment in nationwide standardised data collection would enable targeted support for the communities that need it most.</p>
<p><strong>2. Acknowledge diversity and intersectionality</strong></p>
<p>A reductionist approach to long COVID or disadvantage that targets single aspects of someone’s identity will not work.</p>
<p>That’s because long COVID symptoms can be multiple and diverse, affecting <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-95565-8#:%7E:text=We%20identified%20a%20total%20of,diabetes%20mellitus%20were%20also%20present.">all body systems</a>. People may also experience multiple layers of disadvantage. So an “intersectional” approach acknowledges how various factors – such as health, poverty, gender or visa status – interplay.</p>
<p><strong>3. Work with disadvantaged communities</strong></p>
<p>Disadvantaged communities are the ones most affected by long COVID. So
any policy needs to be developed with their meaningful involvement.</p>
<p>People know what <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hpja.450">tangible outcomes</a> would work best (or fail) in their community. So it’s crucial to have this input if we are to make real improvements.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evelyne de Leeuw receives funding from CIHR (the Canadian Institute of Health Research, the equivalent of NHMRC) for research into financial strain during the pandemic. The relevant resources have not paid her personally.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aryati Yashadhana does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What do disadvantaged communities need to weather long COVID? Ask them.Danielle Hitch, Senior Lecturer in Occupational Therapy, Deakin UniversityAryati Yashadhana, Research Fellow, Centre for Primary Health Care and Equity, and Visiting Fellow, School of Social Sciences, UNSW SydneyEvelyne de Leeuw, Professor, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772422022-03-22T18:34:44Z2022-03-22T18:34:44ZBuilding back equitably: 4 ways to address mental health inequities magnified by the pandemic, and ensure access to care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453638/original/file-20220322-15-pnvimp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2416%2C628%2C4683%2C3342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Responding to the mental health needs of people who are unjustly disadvantaged by the pandemic in Canada will require accurate data.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You don’t need statistics to appreciate the profound effects that COVID-19 restrictions limiting social connections and access to services have had on our collective mental health. And yet, statistics — paired with qualitative data that offer in-depth descriptions of what people are experiencing — are essential for monitoring improvements, or lack thereof, during the process of recovery from the past two years of cumulative stress. </p>
<p>However, aggregate trends (which combine data from all members of a population) <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F17456916211029964">can be misleading</a>. Even worse, they can exacerbate inequities by giving the erroneous impression that the data apply to everyone in the same way. </p>
<p>For example, Statistics Canada <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/reports-publications/health-promotion-chronic-disease-prevention-canada-research-policy-practice/vol-42-no-5-2022/self-rated-mental-health-community-belonging-life-satisfaction-perceived-change-mental-health-adults-covid-19-pandemic-canada.html">recently reported</a> a general worsening in self-rated mental health among Canadians. Sixty per cent rated their mental health highly in fall 2020, decreasing to 52 per cent in spring 2021. However, this trend was more pronounced among some population sub-groups. In young adults (18-34 years) the proportion rating their mental health highly dropped from 51 per cent in fall 2020 to 33 per cent in spring 2021. </p>
<p>Understanding how to <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/privy-council/campaigns/speech-throne/2020/stronger-resilient-canada.html">build back equitably</a> after the pandemic requires gathering the appropriate data and being responsive to the groups who were hardest hit by pandemic-related distress.</p>
<h2>Responding to an ‘echo pandemic’</h2>
<p>In the first year of the pandemic, as public health equity researchers, we anticipated a need for mental health data. Health-care leaders, policy-makers, politicians and members of the public would need access to rigorous data collected over time to monitor and respond to the mental health of groups that are unjustly disadvantaged by the pandemic in Canada.</p>
<p>The Canadian Mental Health Association has <a href="https://cmha.ca/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/EN_COVID-19-Policy-Brief.pdf">warned of an “echo pandemic”</a>: a wave of intensifying mental health concerns caused by pandemic-related stress, including uncertainty, social isolation, unemployment and loss of services.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A group of friends of varying genders playing cards" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453245/original/file-20220321-27-yrhhud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pandemic’s impact on mental health has been felt disproportionally in marginalized people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Gender Spectrum Collection)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To better understand and track the differential effects of these pandemic realities, we established the <a href="https://www.bcammhe.ca/">B.C. Alliance for Monitoring Mental Health Equity</a>. Using a newly developed web platform, we host findings from 15+ research studies featuring data from British Columbia, and in some cases, complementary data from the rest of Canada and international locations. </p>
<p>We are committed to <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00333549141291S203">reducing and ultimately eliminating avoidable differences</a> in mental health status by social positions and identities. For that reason, we prioritize research that centres socially defined population sub-groups such as those who are two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (2S/LGBTQ), Indigenous, Black and people of colour, young or living in low-income households.</p>
<h2>Centring in the margins</h2>
<p>We are inspired by activist and writer bell hooks’s <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Yearning-Race-Gender-and-Cultural-Politics/hooks/p/book/9781138821750">call</a> to “center in the margins,” meaning to focus first on those who have experienced the greatest social marginalization. From several studies in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114327">Canada</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2020.1868182">elsewhere</a>, we now know that over the past two years, 2S/LGBTQ people have experienced a disproportionate worsening of mental health related to the pandemic. A similar growing disparity in mental health has been observed for those experiencing <a href="https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/tackling-the-mental-health-impact-of-the-covid-19-crisis-an-integrated-whole-of-society-response-0ccafa0b/">personal financial strain</a> and those with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106333">pre-existing mental health conditions</a>, or a combination of these factors.</p>
<p>A few common threads can help explain the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on these population sub-groups. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two people on a sofa playing video games laughing" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453249/original/file-20220321-19-5zb38n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pandemic limited the social connections that can provide a buffer against stress.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(The Gender Spectrum Collection)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>First, members of these groups may be particularly affected by social isolation. For example, before COVID-19, we knew that many 2S/LGBTQ people — who are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.141">less likely to be partnered</a>, more likely to be living alone — experienced <a href="https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/articles/en/gay-loneliness/">reduced social networks due to stigma and exclusion</a>. During the pandemic, these networks have <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/sgd0000510">shrunk further</a>, limiting the social connections that can help buffer against pandemic-related stressors. </p>
<p>Second, the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/978924012455">restrictions in access to in-person appointments</a> had a greater impact on those who routinely relied on mental health supports, including those with pre-existing mental illnesses. Before the pandemic, there was already a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00199-1">large gap in access to adequate mental health care</a>. COVID-19-related service restrictions left those with chronic mental health conditions — who already experience significant stigma and discrimination — with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2021.05.002">profound barriers to care</a>, often at the same time that their mental health symptoms were worsening.</p>
<h2>Building back equitably</h2>
<p>Working from the local, equity-informed data compiled by <a href="https://www.bcammhe.ca/about">members of the alliance</a>, we offer four urgent calls to action, with further recommendations available on <a href="https://www.bcammhe.ca/recommendations/">our website</a>. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Improve funding and programs in accessible mental health services that are tailored to reduce barriers for equity-deserving groups. </p></li>
<li><p>Adopt a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(21)00199-1">population approach to mental health</a>, with the goal of improving mental health across populations. This approach would include promotion (to build contributors to positive mental health), as well as prevention to reduce mental ill health, and treatment for those with a mental health diagnosis.</p></li>
<li><p>Strengthen mental health screening and referral pathways in primary care settings (for example, family practitioners and walk-in clinics) and support rapid access to followup for those who need it.</p></li>
<li><p>Develop guidelines to support <a href="https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-021-01484-5">digital mental health care </a> solutions such as web-based resources and virtual access to care providers. These solutions must be accessible, supported by evidence, and equity-oriented. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Decisions that policy-makers make right now will determine how we, as a society, recover and build back mental health in the years to come. With <a href="https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2007.114777">equitable investments</a> in mental health promotion, prevention and treatment, we can redress unjust differences in our population’s mental health and work to ensure that good mental health is an achievable goal for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Travis Salway receives funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Michael Smith Health Research BC, the BC SUPPORT Unit Fraser Centre, SFU's Community-Engaged Research Initiative, and Victoria Foundation (donation from Andrew Beckerman). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emily Jenkins, Hasina Samji, and Pierre-julien Coulaud do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The mental health impact of the pandemic has not affected everyone equally. An equitable approach to mental health promotion, prevention and treatment can help ensure equitable access to services.Travis Salway, Assistant Professor, Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityEmily Jenkins, Professor of Nursing, University of British ColumbiaHasina Samji, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser UniversityPierre-julien Coulaud, Post-doctoral research fellow, Department of Medicine, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/937652018-06-14T10:29:04Z2018-06-14T10:29:04ZHow GCSE Science is failing students – and society<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222176/original/file-20180607-137301-1b4zccd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students are being put off careers in STEM.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK is facing massive skills shortages in science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers – according to one study <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-report-shows-stem-workers-twice-as-likely-to-miss-job-opportunities-due-to-lack-of-skills">43% of STEM vacancies</a> are difficult to fill. </p>
<p>This is why the government has been trying to increase and widen participation in STEM careers and education, to ensure a better prepared workforce for the future. To try and address the STEM gap, the “<a href="https://www.ase.org.uk/journals/school-science-review/2009/9/334/1972/SSR334Sept2009p65.pdf">triple science</a>” GCSE qualification was introduced. Triple science is the route allowing students to study biology, chemistry and physics as separate subjects. This leads to three distinct GCSE awards.</p>
<p>Triple science has been championed by <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/elizabeth-truss-speaks-to-the-international-student-science-fair">the government</a> and <a href="http://smallbusiness.co.uk/cbi-triple-science-gcse-will-boost-employee-skill-set-1648073/">industry</a> for the way it prepares students for the world of STEM employment. This is compared to alternative routes like double science, which awards students two GCSEs for studying the three sciences. </p>
<p>But our research suggests that the triple science route could actually be <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02671522.2016.1219382">perpetuating social inequalities</a> among pupils who are studying and aspiring to work in science. This is in part down to the fact that the provision of triple science varies from school to school. This is because of inconsistent resources and differences in how students are selected to study triple science. And this ultimately means that students in deprived areas are much less likely to attend schools that offer <a href="https://www.thersa.org/globalassets/pdfs/opsn/lack-of-options-opsn-report.pdf">this option</a>. </p>
<h2>Not good enough</h2>
<p>Based at the UCL Institute of Education, <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/departments-centres/departments/education-practice-and-society/aspires">our research</a> uses an ongoing longitudinal study of school students in England that tracks their science and career aspirations. The study includes surveys conducted with over 13,000 Year 11 students and interviews with 70 young people. </p>
<p>This research has found that the most socially disadvantaged students are nearly three times less likely to study triple science compared to the most advantaged.</p>
<p>A student’s ethnicity also has a bearing on their likelihood to study triple science. Chinese students are two-and-a-half times more likely to take triple than double science. Students in middle and bottom sets are also much less likely to study triple science than their peers in top sets.</p>
<h2>Overlooked and undervalued</h2>
<p>Despite the notion of choice surrounding the GCSE selection process, our research found that many students taking triple science have this decided for them – or are steered into a particular choice – by their school. Students are often directed to, or away from, this route – sometimes with school results a leading factor. </p>
<p>This was recently acknowledged by the head of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/amanda-spielmans-speech-at-the-association-for-science-education-annual-conference-2018">in a speech</a> at the Association of Science Education’s 2018 conference:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In most of the schools we visited, the option of taking triple or double science GCSE – and as a result, some key stage five courses – was almost entirely dependent on student results and overlooked pupils’ own aspirations.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/222172/original/file-20180607-137306-1owvgo0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some pupils are having their options limited, as schools fear they will not make the grade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Triple science can be overwhelmingly seen as the high status route for those who are “clever” and “sciencey”, both by those students taking it and those taking alternative options. </p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/aspires/2016/04/21/is-gcse-triple-science-making-the-stem-skills-gap-wider">Students studying for</a> double science and science BTEC can be left feeling inferior. This may be especially true in schools which threaten to “bump down” triple science students to double science if they fail to achieve the top grades. As Bobster, a Year 13 student, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Science at school was interesting. I did quite enjoy it actually … I was in triple science until about mid-Year 10. Then I was moved down … It was just like ‘yeah, we can see that you’re really struggling with it’, and it was like ‘I’m not, I can get it done’, but it was like ‘yeah we just think it would be better if you like move down.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>‘Science isn’t for me’</h2>
<p>Our research <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2016.1219382">also showed that</a> triple science students have more positive attitudes and confidence about their ability in science than those not taking this route. </p>
<p>We found that students on this route were more likely to study science after leaving school and more likely to aspire to work in STEM careers. Whereas those taking double science or alternative qualifications, may be left questioning their ability in science and discouraged from aspiring to work in STEM. As one of the Year 11 students, Georgia, explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I was quite gutted that I didn’t get triple science, but obviously I’m not as good in lessons … I was planning on doing triple science and then obviously going on and doing a science career, but I didn’t get triple science, I didn’t get picked for it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Georgia, missing out on the chance to study triple science due to her school’s policy, ultimately discouraged her from pursuing her ambition of becoming a marine biologist, which became evident when tracking her aspirations as part of the longitudinal project.</p>
<p>So while it was hoped that this widely praised route would help to address the UK’s STEM skills gap – by providing higher attaining students with the opportunity to study science in greater depth and breadth – it seems it may instead have served to narrow the pool of potential future scientists.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93765/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Archer receives funding from the ESRC.</span></em></p>An initiative to address a skills gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics may be actually narrowing the pool of students who consider a career in STEM.Louise Archer, Karl Mannheim Chair of Sociology of Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/922682018-02-23T02:00:39Z2018-02-23T02:00:39ZNew evidence suggests we may need to rethink policies aimed at poverty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207444/original/file-20180222-152348-1f4ort1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fewer people who were homeless or at risk of being homeless exited poverty than in the general population</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Poverty is <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2437426/HILDA-SR-med-res.pdf">often perceived</a> as an ongoing problem for only a very small number of people, and for most households it is a temporary phase that does not last long.</p>
<p>But less than 15% of the most disadvantaged people in Australia exit poverty from one year to the next, according to data from the <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/journeys-home">Journeys Home survey</a>, run by the Melbourne Institute. </p>
<p>The view that poverty is largely a transitional experience has influenced the design, implementation and even the evaluation of welfare policy in Australia. If poverty is a temporary phenomenon, then support can take the form of an insurance scheme to supplement income during the limited time spent in poverty. </p>
<p>However, our research suggests that income poverty is persistent for a small group of Australians and is combined with other forms of disadvantage. Supporting these people in finding a pathway out of poverty requires deeper interventions, including targeted health, education and social policies.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-podcast-brian-howe-on-revisiting-henderson-poverty-and-basic-income-91677">Politics podcast: Brian Howe on revisiting Henderson, poverty and basic income</a>
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<p>Most of the evidence we have on the persistence of poverty is based on long-term surveys designed to be representative of the entire population. Although these surveys offer broad coverage of the population, such surveys are typically limited in their ability to capture the most disadvantaged groups because they constitute only a small part of the general population. </p>
<p>This makes it difficult to produce reliable estimates of the extent of poverty among extremely disadvantaged households. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/journeys-home">Journeys Home survey</a> followed nearly 1,700 welfare recipients from across the country who were identified by Centrelink as homeless or at high risk of experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity. </p>
<p>These are the types of people who have always been particularly difficult to survey, let alone follow through time. As a result, they are likely to be under-represented in general surveys used to study poverty. The Journeys Homes project allows a more precise examination of the prevalence and persistence of poverty among those groups. </p>
<p>We found that significantly fewer people exit poverty every year than the equivalent estimate based on data from the <a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/hilda">Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia</a> (HILDA). This is a general population survey that has followed a sample of 17,000 Australians since 2001. </p>
<p><a href="http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/2437426/HILDA-SR-med-res.pdf">Research</a> based on HILDA shows that more than 2 million Australians were below the poverty line in 2015. </p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whos-on-the-outer-uncovering-povertys-many-faces-44574">Who's on the outer? Uncovering poverty's many faces</a>
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<p>Our study used a poverty line equal to 60% of the median household income, which is a <a href="http://www.poverty.ac.uk/definitions-poverty/income-threshold-approach">widely used</a> measure in high-income countries. To get an idea, the poverty line in Australia for a single person in 2014 sat at A$517 per week. The threshold for a couple was A$776. </p>
<p>The gap between HILDA and Journeys Home in estimating poverty persists even when we change the level of the poverty line. </p>
<p>Journeys Home’s participants are not only more disadvantaged than the poor in HILDA, but much more likely to report several forms of disadvantage. For example, the poor in HILDA have higher education levels and are, on average, more likely to be employed than those interviewed in Journeys Home. </p>
<p>Rates of imprisonment and mental illness are also higher in Journeys Home than in HILDA. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australians-support-universal-health-care-so-why-not-a-universal-basic-income-91572">Australians support universal health care, so why not a universal basic income?</a>
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<p>The HILDA results show that most Australians who fall below the poverty line do so for a relatively short time, which is good news. However, it is also clear that among chronically disadvantaged people the chances of poverty becoming an enduring feature of life are much higher than previously thought. </p>
<p>If people are trapped below the poverty line for a long time, the sorts of interventions needed to get them out of poverty are likely to be quite different than when the experience of poverty is transitory. </p>
<p>The evidence suggests those who get stuck below the poverty line also have numerous disadvantages, so perhaps we need to rethink interventions designed to assist the most vulnerable members of the community. </p>
<p>A common thread dating back to the 1990s has been to frame long-term reliance on welfare as welfare dependency. Australia’s welfare system might do better if it avoided stigmatising those who get “stuck” and recognised the systemic and structural barriers that make leaving poverty particularly difficult for some households. </p>
<p>For these households, much deeper forms of assistance are needed to help them make a permanent transition out of poverty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92268/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicolas Herault works for the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research. The Melbourne Institute manages the Journeys Home survey as well as the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Francisco Azpitarte is the Ronald Henderson Fellow, a joint position between the University of Melbourne and the Brotherhood of St Laurence. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guy Johnson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Less than 15% of the most disadvantaged people in Australia exit poverty from one year to the next. We need to design policy to tackle this.Nicolas Herault, Academic, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of MelbourneFrancisco Azpitarte, Ronald Henderson Research Fellow Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research & Brotherhood of St Laurence, The University of MelbourneGuy Johnson, Professor, Urban Housing and Homelessness, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/781782017-05-24T05:06:46Z2017-05-24T05:06:46ZPoor kids hit puberty sooner and risk a lifetime of health problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170686/original/file-20170524-5749-1mdge6o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It can be a tough time for children going through the physical and emotional changes of puberty. And if they enter puberty early, the health impacts can stay with them for life.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/525638404?src=Zg0uuHb8KUaaM5_85T6a_w-1-9&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Shape-shifting bodies. Cracking voices. Hairs sprouting in new places. Puberty marks a dramatic period of change for young people. Now new research shows children who grow up in poor homes enter puberty early.</p>
<p>Not only do they experience more emotional, behavioural and social problems compared to their peers, early puberty puts them at risk of a range of health issues for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>The research, published today in the journal <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/">Pediatrics</a>, adds to a body of work showing the cumulative effect of adversity in childhood can have lifelong physical, mental and behavioural repercussions.</p>
<p>However, the reason why these disadvantaged children enter puberty early remains unclear. And work is continuing to pinpoint factors that trigger the cascade of hormones that mark this critical period of development.</p>
<h2>What is puberty?</h2>
<p>Puberty is an inherently awkward transition in which a child’s body matures to allow reproduction.</p>
<p>In girls, it typically begins with breast development between the ages of eight and 13 and ends with menarche, or the first period. In boys, puberty begins between ages nine and 14, on average, starting with growth of the sexual organs and wrapping up with facial hair and a deepened voice.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=808&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170674/original/file-20170523-5790-ymkul8.gif?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1015&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What causes puberty? One of Science’s 125 big questions of all time that still remains unanswered today.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://science.sciencemag.org/content/309/5731/news-summaries">Science/AAAS</a></span>
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<p>But changes at puberty are not all physical. Puberty also triggers rapid biological and social change, and increasing risk for <a href="https://theconversation.com/growing-up-too-fast-early-puberty-and-mental-illness-13159">psychological health problems</a>, like depression and anxiety, substance use and abuse, self-harm and eating disorders.</p>
<p>We still don’t know exactly what triggers the cascade of hormone secretions that, over time, produces these tell-tale changes. And “What triggers puberty?” was one of the 125 questions posed in Science magazine’s 125th anniversary edition in 2005 that still remains unanswered today.</p>
<p>In particular, we still don’t know exactly what <em>causes</em> some children to enter puberty earlier than others, although there have been many factors <em>linked</em> to early puberty.</p>
<p>These include <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-031914-122606?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&">childhood obesity</a>, being born <a href="https://academic.oup.com/aje/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/aje/kws159">small for gestational age</a> and exposure to <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jcem/article-lookup/doi/10.1210/jc.2015-2706">environmental chemicals</a>. Other researchers have linked early puberty with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41995770?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">living with a stepfather</a> or having experienced <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26358357">stressful life events</a>, such as childhood maltreatment and abuse.</p>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>Previous studies looking into social impacts on the timing of puberty have had mixed results. While one Indian study found poor girls started their periods <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/ijamh.2015.27.issue-4/ijamh-2014-0056/ijamh-2014-0056.xml">later than normal</a>, a UK study found girls who grew up the poorest were twice as likely to have started their periods <a href="http://adc.bmj.com/content/102/3/232.long">earlier</a> than the richest.</p>
<p>So, we carried out the first study of its kind in Australia to see how cumulative exposure to social disadvantage affected the age children entered puberty.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/170684/original/file-20170524-5790-1ucy3v9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">We asked whether children had gone through puberty at the age of 10-11 then matched their answers with family income levels and other indicators.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/374710399?src=Zg0uuHb8KUaaM5_85T6a_w-1-4&size=medium_jpg">from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>We asked parents of 3,700 children in the <a href="http://www.growingupinaustralia.gov.au/">Growing Up in Australia Study</a> to report signs of their children’s puberty at age eight to nine, and then again at ten to 11. Signs included: a growth spurt, pubic hair and skin changes; breast growth and menstruation in girls; and voice deepening and facial hair in boys.</p>
<p>We then compared the family’s socioeconomic position – as measured by their parent’s annual income, education and employment – of those who started puberty early with others who started on time.</p>
<p>At ten to 11 years old, about 19% of boys and 21% of girls were classified in the early puberty group. In other words, they had entered puberty earlier compared to their counterparts.</p>
<p>Boys from very disadvantaged homes had a four-fold increase in the rate of early puberty, while girls’ risk increased nearly two-fold compared with kids that came from the richest families.</p>
<h2>How could this happen?</h2>
<p>Research on the <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/109/Supplement_2/17143.full">biology of stress</a> shows how major adversity, like extreme poverty, can permanently set the body’s stress response to high alert, affecting the brain’s circuits. This might, in turn, influence how reproductive hormones are regulated, so affecting the timing and trajectory of puberty.</p>
<p>Another body of research <a href="http://physiologyonline.physiology.org/content/26/6/412.long">suggests</a> the social environment can influence so-called <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-epigenetics-13877">epigenetic changes</a> in our genes. These changes might affect the regulation of genes involved in reproductive development, switching some on or off sooner than usual.</p>
<p>Another <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2004-20177-005">theory</a> is that in the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1991.tb01558.x/full">face of hardship</a> – for instance, economic disadvantage, harsh physical environment, the absence of a father – children may be programmed to start the reproductive process earlier to ensure their genes are passed on to the next generation.</p>
<p>Yet, we still don’t know exactly how poverty or disadvantage triggers early puberty.</p>
<h2>Why this matters</h2>
<p>What we do know, however, is early puberty is linked with a range of <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/121/Supplement_3/S218">health issues</a>.</p>
<p>For instance, in girls, it’s linked with emotional, behavioural and social problems during adolescence including: depressive disorders, substance disorders, eating disorders and earlier-than-usual displays of sexuality.</p>
<p>Early puberty also affects people’s health far beyond their teenage years. It places them at a <a href="http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v37/n8/full/ijo2012177a.html">greater risk</a> of developing obesity, reproductive cancers and cardiometabolic diseases (diabetes, heart disease or stroke) in later life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ying Sun is originally from Anhui Medical University, China.</span></em></p>Shape-shifting bodies. Cracking voices. Hairs sprouting in new places. Why do some children enter puberty early?Ying Sun, Associate Professor and Visiting Academic, Centre for Adolescent Health, Murdoch Children's Research InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/681432016-11-04T02:07:06Z2016-11-04T02:07:06ZHazelwood’s closure calls for a rethink on Latrobe Valley solutions<p>The announcement of the closure of Hazelwood power station in 2017 adds further complexity to an uncertain future facing the Latrobe Valley community. </p>
<p>Owners Engie and Mitsui <a href="http://www.gdfsuezau.com/media/UploadedDocuments/News/Hazelwood%20Clousure/Hazelwood%20closure%20-%20Media%20release.pdf">said of the 750 employees</a> at the power station, 250 will remain between 2017 and 2023 to manage the site rehabilitation, while the remaining workers will receive a redundancy package. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/labor-government-to-support-hazelwood-workers/">The state government has pledged a package</a> of A$22 million for “personalised support” for workers which includes TAFE training, financial counselling and other forms of support and a further A$20 million to set up a Latrobe Valley Authority to lead the economic transition. In addition to this <a href="http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/economic-growth-zone-to-boost-latrobe-valley-business/">A$224 million will go towards</a> the establishment of a “economic growth zone”. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://ministers.employment.gov.au/cash/government-support-hazelwood-workers">federal government is offering</a> A$43 million including A$3 million for active assistance, retraining, and other forms of financial services. </p>
<p>Adversity is not new to this Victorian region. Headed by the towns of Moe, Morwell and Traralgon, this one-time thriving energy generating region has experienced continual power job losses since the 1980s. And despite continued government support, the Latrobe Valley’s economic decline and higher than state average unemployment is yet to be halted.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-five-pillar-economy-mining-40701">Fluctuating demand</a> for mining exports and reductions in manufacturing output across Australia require regional areas like the Latrobe Valley to consider their options. A <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264253476-en">2016 OECD report</a> states that Australia has a relatively strong capacity to provide new jobs for redundant workers, citing examples of 80% re-employment within two years.</p>
<p>But does this experience hold for regional locations? Looking back, <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=378f4515-63e8-4af4-9e4a-910de9a3fbdf">a 2001 Monash University report</a> showed that structural changes to the power industry saw the Latrobe Valley suffer from a loss of almost 10% of its residents, sustained withdrawals from the labour force and unfavourable conditions for local businesses.</p>
<p>Recovery has been slow. Within the Latrobe Valley community, the challenges of reversing economic decline have been exacerbated by recent events such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hazelwood-mine-disaster-could-easily-have-been-avoided-31335">Hazelwood Mine fire</a> and the impact of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/milk-price-cuts-reflect-the-reality-of-sweeping-changes-in-global-dairy-market-59251">milk price downturn</a> on the dairy industry. The power station closure had been <a href="http://www.afr.com/business/energy/french-energy-giant-engie-mulls-closure-of-hazelwood-power-station-20160525-gp426a">foreshadowed for some time</a> and further job losses from the power industry will add to community concerns. </p>
<p>There is an emerging gulf in living standards between country and city-based residents. For example, according to a <a href="http://www.dtpli.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0014/223052/Change_and_disadvantage_in_regional_Victoria_overview.pdf">2011 state government report</a>, regional Victoria is relatively disadvantaged in several ways including lower educational participation and workforce skill levels, when compared to metropolitan Melbourne. In this same report, the Latrobe Valley towns of Moe and Morwell are named among the most disadvantaged localities in regional Victoria. </p>
<p>Those working in the power industry represent <a href="http://www.committeeforgippsland.com.au/docs/7108%20Committee%20for%20Gippsland%20-%202016%20Booklet.pdf">nearly 10% of the Latrobe Valley workforce</a> and the announced job losses may add to an unemployment rate, <a href="http://lmip.gov.au/default.aspx?LMIP/EmploymentData/EasternVictoria/LatrobeValley">currently standing at 7%</a>. </p>
<p>The immediate focus must be on the welfare for affected employees and their families. In the longer term, this event could be the trigger for new opportunities to revitalise the Latrobe Valley’s economic outlook. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.communityeconomies.org/site/assets/media/old%20website%20pdfs/Papers/On%20community%20economies/Alternative%20Pathways%20to%20Community%20and%20Economic%20Development.pdf">Alternative pathways for economic and community development</a> have been on the agenda for the Latrobe Valley at least since privatisation of the power industry in the 1990s. These include a future economic strategy that supports a more diversified economy. </p>
<p>Lack of real community consultation and engagement has meant that <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29455676_Alternative_Pathways_to_Community_and_Economic_Development_The_Latrobe_Valley_Community_Partnering_Project">workers perhaps haven’t felt empowered</a> to take up other opportunities. </p>
<p>There are some alternatives that could be taken advantage of, such as new service and manufacturing industries and others that build on the Latrobe Valley’s natural advantages in agriculture and scenic locations. Ideally, these initiatives require focused retraining or other forms of support for displaced workers. But such short-term measures are, of course, obvious. </p>
<p>With the closure of the power station, there will ongoing work for some time as the site moves from a productive mine to rehabilitated site. However there are significant issues that have to be considered first, such as the future use and stabilisation of the site prior to undertaking major works. </p>
<p>Whatever the future of the Hazelwood site, it’s critical that this is determined in consultation with the community to provide access to facilities and services of benefit to local residents. Importantly, as rehabilitation of the site will be a long-term process, it will be necessary that the community contributes both to the vision and the progress toward this for it to succeed.</p>
<p>State and federal governments may look also to other communities that have experienced industrial plant closures internationally to inform their plans and actions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68143/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Duffy has participated in research projects funded by Regional Development Victoria, VicHealth and the Department of Health and Human Services.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damian Morgan has participated in research projects funded by Regional Development Victoria, Regional Development Australia and the Environment Protection Authority Victoria.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Reeves does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Past attempts to help Latrobe Valley workers weather economic changes haven’t made a difference, so the closure of Hazelwood presents a challenge.Michelle Duffy, Senior Lecturer, Humanities and Social Sciences, Federation University AustraliaDamian Morgan, Senior Lecturer in Management, Federation University AustraliaJessica Reeves, Senior Lecturer, Environmental Science, Federation University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/438772015-07-07T05:22:58Z2015-07-07T05:22:58ZBudget 2015: how can Tories square welfare cuts with claim to be ‘party of social justice’?<p>David Cameron opened his statement to the first cabinet meeting of the newly elected government on May 12 by outlining his party’s mission to deliver "social justice and genuine compassion". He said that wide-ranging reforms in education and welfare should be implemented with “the forethought of increasing equality”. </p>
<p>It was an interesting use of the term social justice. It gave more than a passing nod to the ideas of both the US moral philosopher <a href="http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/benchmark/ndaniels/pdf/democratic_equality.pdf">John Rawls</a> and others, especially the message of increasing equality – something the other big political parties were not keen to push forward in either their manifestos or on the hustings. </p>
<p>Yet when George Osborne unveils his second budget of 2015 on July 8, he will outline details of how he plans to take £12bn out of the welfare budget by 2018. This is part of the plans in the <a href="https://www.conservatives.com/Manifesto">Conservative manifesto</a> to cut government spending by £30bn, with other priority areas for cuts including departmental savings and closing tax loopholes. It begs an obvious question: can the planned welfare cuts be reconciled with the new government’s egalitarian rhetoric or not?</p>
<h2>The story so far</h2>
<p>So far the government <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-33009399">has only</a> provided details of how it will find around £1.5bn of savings from the UK’s £220bn social security budget (<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/sep/29/george-osborne-working-age-benefits-frozen">mainly through</a> a two-year freeze in working-age benefits). With £107bn of that total spent on pensioners and child benefit and ring-fenced for the life of this parliament, the savings amount to 11% of the rest. Various commentators <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33221969">have said</a> that the scale of such cuts will involve the government looking at child tax credit, housing benefit and disability allowances. </p>
<p>Meanwhile Osborne has already stated that a primary aim of the Tory tax reforms is <a href="https://www.politicshome.com/economy-and-work/articles/story/tories-would-raise-higher-rate-threshold-%C2%A350000-osborne-suggests">to lift</a> the 40p threshold for income tax to earnings of £50,000. There are <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/general-election-2015/11530440/Tories-pledge-inheritance-tax-cut-for-millions.html">also plans</a> to review the inheritance tax rules to shelter inheritance below £1m from the taxman, compared to a tax-free £325,000 per inheritor at present. These are both tax cuts that will benefit relatively wealthy people. </p>
<p>Raising the income tax threshold also negates the benefit of Conservative policy to aggressively increase people’s personal tax-free allowances to £12,500, since it means that the burden that falls on people of different income levels remains comparatively the same. </p>
<h2>How we justify taxation</h2>
<p>There are three generally accepted reasons for taxation, all of which must be designed with equality in mind if a government is to be able to claim that it is socially just. The first is to finance public goods and services, ranging from everything to the NHS to the armed forces. The second is to redistribute wealth, which is where welfare benefits come in, as well as different income tax bands for example. The third is to incentivise desirable behaviour and discourage undesirable behaviour – the thinking behind taxes on tobacco, pollution and so forth. Of these, the first is the least controversial, the second is most debated and the third is most disputed. </p>
<p>Let’s start from the assumption that we agree that public goods need to be funded centrally. Taxes need to be raised to fully fund them – and this burden should fall “equally” on all sections of society. If so, we surely can’t dispute that certain sorts of social and economic inequality are unjust and undesirable. As such, those in power must be obliged to rectify the problems of disadvantaged people through mechanisms – including the welfare system. Any moves by the government that exacerbate inequality – meaning that the disadvantaged pay a greater share of our public goods as a result – are contrary to the principles of social justice. </p>
<p>These principles can also be applied to the question of incentivising the right behaviour. This question brings to mind the <a href="http://www.politicsresources.net/area/uk/man/lab97.htm">Labour manifesto of 1997</a>, which promised to stop taxing “goods” and start taxing “bads” instead. It was a clever statement aimed at getting people onboard with what would essentially be accelerated raised taxes on the consumption of “bad” goods – alcohol, cigarettes and petrol in the first instance, but a whole host of other things later. </p>
<p>Jump forward to 2015 and no one denies that it is right to tax these things and that the impost must lie on the consumer. But often such taxes are a levy on types of behaviour over which citizens have no choice. Take fuel consumption. Because we don’t have an integrated publicly financed transport system that offers subsidised and plentiful travel as an incentive for people not to drive cars, fuel duty just becomes a tax on everyone and not a tax on bad behaviour. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/87525/original/image-20150706-994-1x34q9l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Is fuel duty really socially just?</span>
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<p>Equally if people aged between 18 and 21 move away from home to take up a low-paid job because it’s better than nothing, removing their housing benefit – something else that is expected in the budget – is punishing them for something they can’t avoid. A socially just policy would focus on delivering more jobs for them closer to home. </p>
<p>On a closer look at John Rawls, it turns out that his philosophy offers little to back up what the Conservatives are doing either. He argued that inequality can only be justified if it benefits society as a whole and doesn’t make the poorest in society worse off than before. Cutting welfare and maintaining the current spread of tax burdens (at best) would not be justifiable for Rawls. Neither would doing nothing to correct the disproportionate effect of behaviour taxes on the poor. Conservative claims that this budget is somehow socially just or aimed at equality should therefore be given short shrift.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43877/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Somerville does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>David Cameron has tried to claim the clothes of social justice for the Conservatives. It’s time he took them off.Alan Somerville, Director of External Programmes, Centre for Advanced Management Education, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.