Tag Archive for the out of work.

Who are the ‘strivers’ and the ‘skivers’?

Baroness Lister of Burtersett

I’m getting increasingly fed up with the way in which the debate about social security cuts is being framed by those two stereotyped figures: ‘the striver’ and ‘the skiver’ (substitute ‘shirker’ or ‘scrounger’ according to taste).  Strivers stand for people who do paid work; skivers people of working age who don’t. The main line of…