One in seven working-age adults and children could still be living below the poverty line by the mid-2020s, according to new research.
The study, for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), looks at the challenge that Scotland would face to tackle poverty, even with a much higher employment rate than it currently has.
The findings are set out in the third and final referendum briefing written by the New Policy Institute (NPI) and published by JRF.
Scotland's employment rate currently stands at 73.5% and, on rates of growth achieved in the 10 years to 2007, it could reach 80% by 2025, the research found. At current population levels, this would mean an extra 300,000 jobs in the economy.
Researchers looked at the impact of this increase in jobs, taking account of what would happen to poverty levels, depending on whether the extra jobs were full or part-time.
They found that if the 80% employment rate was reached by the creation of only part-time jobs, poverty among working age adults and children could fall from 800,000 (19.4%) to 670,000 (16.2%).
If most of those extra jobs were full-time, the number in poverty would fall further, to 600,000 (14.6%).
Researchers said that if Scotland does achieve higher employment rates, it must address challenges arising from people's time pressures, access to services and rights at work.
Jim McCormick, Scotland adviser to JRF, said: "These scenarios highlight the challenges that Scotland must meet if poverty rates are to decrease. Much higher employment would cut poverty, but jobs alone will not eliminate it while low pay and inadequate working hours remain so widespread."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article