Life in UK means long hours and high housing costs, says report

BRITONS are burdened with higher housing costs, longer working hours and more low-paid work compared with many other developed nations, a report has found.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) How’s Life? Report 2017 placed the UK in the bottom third of member nations for working hours and housing affordability, and found a comparatively high incidence of people stuck in low-paid jobs.

The report, last issued in 2005, offers analysis of a nation’s general well-being across a variety of “indicators” (measurements) concerning health, income, employment, environment, housing and personal safety.

The report analysed data from each of the organisation’s 35 member states, including older members such as Germany, France, Greece and the United States, and newer OECD countries such as Israel and Slovenia, which became members in 2010.

The latest instalment showed that nearly 12.7% of British citizens are regularly working 50 hours or more per week, 12% are facing unmanageable housing costs and 19% are working in low-paid employment – marking the findings as “deprivations” for falling behind two-thirds of other member states.

In particular, young people fared badly on a comparative inequality scale, with young to middle-aged citizens marked in the bottom third of OECD member nations for several categories including free time, political engagement, household income and adult skills.

British women were also found to have lower household incomes than their male counterparts despite working longer hours, the report showed.

But the UK generally fared well against the majority of other member states, in its high rate of employment (74% against an average 67% in 2016), low rate of homicides, and good access to social support, with 93% of those asked saying they have friends or relatives on whom they can count in times of trouble, compared with an OECD average of 89%.