Young people, welfare reform and social insecurity

This article traces the continuities between welfare reforms pursued under New Labour and those proposed by the Coalition government in the UK. It suggests that these reforms sought and continue to seek to discipline young people to accept low-paid, insecure work and unemployment and thereby entrench their poverty and disadvantage. The article argues that faced with this social and economic insecurity many young people may opt for informal opportunities in the shadow economy where they will become further dislocated from the socio-economic mainstream.