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Investment in Qualityvariety of factors: they have access to a range of positive supportswith both the Live Register and receipt of the One Parent FamilyPayment acting as “gateways” for them; they are exposed toinformation and may see themselves differently when recognised asautonomous adults; they are obliged to seek work and have a greaterchance of financial disincentives being smoothed for them.The Council believes that this evidence further strengthens the casemade in Chapter 7 for facilitating more women in makingindependent social welfare claims and ending any normativeassumption in the social welfare code that households are supportedby a principal breadwinner.8.9.4 A focus on the quality of jobsAs employment rates climb higher, and the targets for them too, itbecomes more important to ensure that the conditions under whichjob-holding contributes to reducing poverty and fostering inclusionand equality genuinely obtain. In many countries, as unemploymentand welfare dependency have declined, attention has shifted to thequality of the jobs that formerly unemployed people and welfarerecipients are holding. Employment, which is of extremely shortduration, does not allow a person to escape poverty, provokes alevel of stress that impacts negatively on personal health andhousehold harmony, and leads to de-motivation and a lessenedinterest in improving skill levels or furthering education, is clearlynot what is intended when people with relatively low skills areencouraged to leave welfare for work. Once they are off the welfareroles, an interest should be retained in monitoring their progress inthe labour market.The Scandinavian, Continental European and Anglo-Saxon systemsof social protection are all being challenged to address the issue ofwhether it is desirable that people with a low productivity as seen bythe market should hold jobs and, if so, under what conditions. Thereis a widespread concern that the jobs which people leavingextensive periods of unemployment or welfare dependency behindthem are entering are frequently not “the types of jobs that could be400