Exclusion, Employment and Opportunity

Abstract

A central theme of the paper is the three-way relationship between poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. These concepts are related but should not be equated. In debates about Social Europe, the terms poverty and social exclusion have on occasion been used interchangeably. Cynics have suggested that the term ‘social exclusion’ has been adopted by Brussels to appease previous Conservative governments of the United Kingdom, who believed neither that there was poverty in Britain nor that poverty was a proper concern of the European Commission.