A/HRC/41/39/Add.1 16. The principal response, however, has been to fall back on two sets of talking points which fail to address the key concerns. One addresses employment. First, the unemployment rate is the lowest in 40 years, and there are 3.3 million more people in work than in 2010. The latter claim is true, but this is partly due to growth in the workforce over time, and because 2010 represented a low point following the global recession. Indeed, United Kingdom employment statistics mirror those experienced in recent years in many countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 18 Second, youth unemployment has dropped significantly. True, but this is also the case in Europe generally.19 Third, 79 per cent of the jobs that have been created since 2010 are full-time. True, but even full-time employment is no guarantee against in-work poverty, which is a major and growing problem in the United Kingdom. In fact, in-work poverty rates outstripped the growth in employment in 2018. 17. The second set of talking points relate to poverty. The week after the Special Rapporteur presented his preliminary findings, the Prime Minister told Parliament: “There are 1 million fewer people in absolute poverty today – a record low; 300,000 fewer children in absolute poverty – a record low; and 637,000 fewer children living in workless households – a record low. That is due to the action of this Government and the impact of Universal Credit.”20 18. Several responses are in order. First, it is true that so-called “absolute” poverty has fallen, but this is a selective, widely criticized and mostly unhelpful indicator, and the Government has failed to adopt an official poverty measure. Widely accepted independent measures find poverty is rising. Second, the reference point for the Government’s statistics is 2010, the peak of the impact of the global recession. And third, living in a working household does not bring freedom from poverty, with nearly 60 per cent of those in poverty in a family where someone works, and in-work poverty on the rise.21 19. By consistently invoking these talking points, the Government has essentially foregone the opportunity to engage in a discussion about the real issues affecting poverty in the United Kingdom and refused to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem. Impressive employment statistics are a cause for celebration, but they are no substitute for addressing the plight of the one fifth of the population that continues to live in poverty or the large numbers experiencing destitution. IV. Understanding poverty in the United Kingdom 20. There is a striking and almost complete disconnect between the picture painted by the Government, as noted in the preceding paragraphs, and what people across the country told the Special Rapporteur. 21. People said they had to choose either to eat or heat their homes. Children are showing up at school with empty stomachs, and schools are collecting food and sending it home because teachers know their students will otherwise go hungry. And 2.5 million people in the United Kingdom survive with incomes no more than 10 per cent above the poverty line – just one crisis away from falling into poverty. 22 18 19 20 21 22 6 See www.oecd.org/sdd/labour-stats/harmonised-unemployment-rates-oecd-02-2019.pdf. Youth Unemployment Statistics, House of Commons, Briefing Paper No. 5871, 19 February 2019. See https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-11-21/debates/A147854B-57FB-4AE8-BA891FAC8CE21F2B/Engagements. The origins of these statistics are explained in a press release issued by the Department for Work and Pensions on 22 March 2018, available at www.gov.uk/government/news/one-million-people-lifted-out-of-absolute-poverty. Social Metrics Commission, A New Measure of Poverty, p. 86. Ibid., p. 7.