英国1/5的儿童生活在靠政府津贴的家庭

　　One in five young children in Britain is being raised in a home that relies on jobless benefits, an official count revealed.

　　一项官方统计显示，在英国，有五分之一的儿童生活在依靠失业救济金维持的家庭中。

　　Nearly 2.4 million children and teenagers live with parents who depend on state handouts – a third more than previous estimates.Among them are 722,800 babies and toddlers aged four and under, a fifth of all youngsters, according to the figures produced by the ministry that pays out jobless benefits.

　　将近240 万名儿童和少年的父母都靠政府发放的津贴过日子——这个数字比之前的估计要多出三分之一。根据发放失业救济金的部门的调查，这其中，四岁或更小的婴幼儿有722800 名，占全国所有儿童的五分之一。

　　The analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions shows that in May 2008, 2,397,410 children 18 and under lived in homes where a parent or guardian was claiming an out-ofwork benefit. A Whitehall estimate last year put the figure at 1.8 million.The figures have angered critics of the Government’s welfare policies.Jill Kirby, of the think tank Centre for Policy Studies, said: “Tony Blair and Gordon Brown said workless households were the key problem they were going to overcome. It has clearly gone wrong. Things are going in the wrong direction. The benefits system is creating and increasing dependency,so more children are growing up without any experience of what it is like for someone to have a job.”

　　英国就业与退休部门的分析显示，在2008 年5 月， 有2397410 名18 岁及以下的孩子的家庭中有一名家长或监护人申请了失业救济金——而政府在去年的估计数字为180 万。这个数字让政府福利政策的评论者们感到不满。政府研究中心智囊团的吉尔·柯比说：“（前首相）托尼·布莱尔和（现任首相）戈登·布朗曾表示，无业家庭是他们要克服的关键问题。但目前的情况很明显出了差错，事情正向着另一个方向发展。福利体制正在让人们产生并增加对政府的依赖，因此更多的孩子会在没有任何就业经验的家庭中成长。