CRITERIOS PARA LA ELABORACIÓN DE LA PROPUESTA

The above has presented evidence on the value of literacy and numeracy skills in today’s labour market. Evidence from both quantitative cohort studies and qualitative work show that better literacy and numeracy skills can help individuals to access, retain and progress in work. Indeed,

‘during the UK labour government’s 13 years in power, raising [education and] skill levels was seen as the principal mechanism to improve the position of workers stuck in low wage jobs’ (Lloyd and Mayhew, 2010, 429).

However, whilst the evidence suggests that literacy and numeracy skills have an important impact on an individual’s employment outcomes and experiences, it is important to recognise that there are limits on the extent to which literacy

and numeracy skills alone can help them to succeed in the labour market (Graff 1979; Street, 1995; Bird and Ackerman, 2005). Simply improving literacy and numeracy skills is unlikely to offer a complete solution to a homeless person’s labour market disadvantage and wider exclusion. As many commentators argue, ‘social exclusion [is] the result of many factors, and not all of them [can] be addressed by education policies’ (Bird and Akerman, 2005). Indeed, scholars have contested the so-called ‘‘literacy myth’ ‘whereby it is contended that literacy of itself will lead to social improvement, civilisation and social mobility’ (Street, 1984, 10). Street (1995, 17), for example is highly critical and accuses government agencies and their mass literacy campaigns of raising ‘false hopes about what the acquisition of literacy means for job prospects, social mobility and personal achievement’.

The limits of skills acquisition in overcoming the labour market disadvantage of homeless adults can broadly be divided into two categories; first is the often multifaceted nature of the labour market disadvantage they face (FEANTSA, 2007; Hough et al., 2013). Low skill levels are just one facet of the labour market exclusion experienced by many homeless adults. A range of factors including unstable housing, poor mental and/or physical health conditions, drug and alcohol problems, low self-esteem, employer discrimination, no or limited work experience, criminal records, weak social networks, high hostel rents, and a lack of financial and material resources also work to reinforce a homeless person’s position outside or on the margins of the labour market (FEANTSA, 2007; Hough et al., 2013). As such, for those seeking to support homeless people to move into or closer to work, there is no single solution or ‘silver bullet’. Tackling weak basic skills may therefore not be an obvious focus for

organisations which seek to support homeless men and women to move into or closer to work. Instead, a range of interventions may be required.

Second is the wider context of the labour market and the nature of work it provides (Payne and Keep, 2006; Keep and James, 2012; Hough et al., 2013). According to the dominant thrust of adult skills policy, where individuals fail to attain the necessary level of skills and qualifications (typically defined as level two), they will struggle to succeed in the labour market. Conversely, if adults achieve this ‘minimum employability platform’, their future in the labour market will be much brighter as this is the key to unlocking access to good quality jobs, with higher pay and opportunities for further skill development and progression (Lloyd and Mayhew, 2010). However, this overwhelming focus on ‘supply side’ factors in adult skills policy is highly problematic. In placing the responsibility on individuals to improve their skills in order to escape poverty and worklessness, policymakers have failed to pay adequate attention to the broader problems of weak demand for labour and skills, and other key drivers of low pay. Lloyd and Mayhew (2010) point to multiple causes of low paid work including reduction in trade union membership and collective bargaining, privatisation, labour market deregulation and common practices of subcontracting and outsourcing to companies which drive down the cost of labour (also see Payne, 2007). Neglecting to consider these factors not only shifts the blame for unemployment and low pay onto individuals who are struggling to access and thrive in the labour market (Street, 1995), it is also in itself not enough to tackle the issue of low paying jobs in the labour market. Whilst an individual’s skills have an important impact on a person’s labour market outcomes, the returns to

improving these skills will be limited so long as the labour market fails to provide jobs which utilise and reward these skills.

The UK economy suffers from both a high incidence of low wage work and relatively low rates of progression from low wage employment (Dickens and McKnight, 2008, Savage, 2011). Workers in low wage jobs are the most likely to become unemployed, struggling to move away from a ‘low pay-no pay’ cycle (Stewart, 2007, Shildrick et al., 2010). For most homeless people entering the labour market, wages tend to be at or around the minimum, making it difficult to afford basic necessities or participate in mainstream society (Hough et al., 2013). For many, the nature of work does not enable individuals to move far beyond the margins of the labour market. Indeed, many homeless people face the bottom, low-paid and often more precarious end of the jobs market, where jobs offer few opportunities to progress to higher pay, sustain employment and avoid recurrent spells of unemployment and/or homelessness (FEANTSA, 2007; Hough et al., 2013). Many homeless people struggle to move away from ‘a situation of precariousness and often low paid jobs in the mainstream labour market that further contribute to their vulnerability’ (FEANTSA, 2007, 5).

If homeless people are to avoid recurrent spells of poverty and unemployment and move beyond the margins of the labour market, they need the support and skills both to manage the risks of working in what is often low paid and insecure employment, and move into higher paid, more secure work. Support needs to be in place not just to help them to enter any job and sustain them in it, but to enable them to continue to develop and move towards higher paid and more secure work. Employers could do more to develop opportunities to allow employees to learn and progress; yet opportunities to do this are often

particularly limited at the bottom of the labour market. It is therefore important that individuals are able to identify and access further opportunities outside of work to develop skills and gain qualifications which will help them progress in the labour market. For organisations helping homeless people into work, helping to address skills needs and promoting the value of seeking out and taking up opportunities to continue to participate in learning (and information about how to do this) should arguably feature in any service that aims to support homeless people into work.

3.5 Summary

This chapter has presented both quantitative and qualitative evidence on the important role of literacy and numeracy in shaping people’s labour market experiences. The available evidence suggests that helping adults to improve these skills can help them to fare better in the labour market, both directly and indirectly through opening up access to further qualifications which are increasingly demanded by employers, through increasing confidence and self- esteem, and through making the literacy and numeracy demands outside of work, for example, tenancy sustainment, easier to deal with. Whilst improving homeless people’s basic skill levels is not a panacea to addressing their labour market disadvantage and exclusion more generally, the available evidence suggests that it could help towards this. Thus, there is a strong case for literacy and numeracy support to be part of the package of assistance offered by homelessness organisations which aim to support their service users to move into (or closer to) work.