Inside U.K. Report Spurs Britons' Worries for the Future By STEVE HILL	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
イギリス人の未来に不安 最近のある調査によると、1998年から2010年にかけて、イギリス人の生活水準はぐっと向上するとか。しかし、その調査では、時間とお金が足りず、厳しい職場でストレスがつのるイギリスの現代社会の実態も浮き彫りにされました。果たして、将来の展望は…？

The future is bright for most British people, with living standards set to increase markedly in the next millennium, but there will be a big price to pay.

In "The Paradox of Prosperity," a report commissioned by the Salvation Army, an international Christian organization, the Henley Centre says the rich are going to get richer and the poor very much poorer. The report certainly struck a chord with many people, including myself and friends.

Most of us can look forward to rising prosperity, but at the same time there will be more broken marriages, increasing stress at work and more dependence on alcohol and drugs. The report makes grim reading, despite stating that living standards will increase by around 35 percent between 1998 and 2010 "and potentially by more if there is any truth in the idea that information technology is creating a `new economy"'

It adds that "the top 10 percent of people will be 10 times richer than the bottom 10 percent." And it is a far different story at the other end of the scale.

The report says: "Those born into poverty are statistically more likely to suffer ill health, to receive a substandard education and to obtain poorly paid jobs, or no job at all. Their children are therefore likely to suffer in a similar way."

It's not all good news for the middle classes, either. Full-time workers in the United Kingdom record the longest average weekly working hours in Europe, and there are clear knock-on consequences.

Some 22 percent of workers say they would be willing to be paid less money if it ensured less stress and more free time, but 48 percent say they need more money to maintain their quality of life. The report says: "The professional classes are under increasing pressure, working longer hours and suffering higher levels of stress. As this trend continues into the next millennium, alcohol and drug abuse could become an even great er scourge.

"People will be less able to withdraw from this rat race due to the increasing need to make private provision for their old age."

The report states that 59 percent of people claim to suffer excessive time pressure saying "they never have enough time to get things done," compared to an average for Europe of 49 percent, while 37 percent believe that their working hours are still increasing.

A total of 55 percent say they have been subjected to more pressure at work in the last three years, and only 30 percent believe they are taking more satisfaction from their jobs.

The obvious answer is for people to "downsize," an idea which first began to attract publicity several years ago. But while people want more free time, they have also become used to having the power to buy whatever they reasonably want when they want and have no desire to lose that.

The report adds that for women there is more pressure to "do it all" as they juggle being mothers with having a career. "People have become trapped on a merry-go-round of demands, pressures and expectations, resulting in a constant plateau of stress."

In other words, unless you've already got some money in the bank and can afford to step back from this pressurized lifestyle, most people will simply have to soldier on. This, the report says, will lead to fewer people having children, and it predicts a 33 percent increase in the number of lone-parent households in the next 10 years or so. By the year 2010, a total of 22 percent of women aged 45 will be childless, compared with only 16 percent in 1997.

Another result of our pressurized life style is an increase in the number of broken marriages. The report says the number of divorces is quickly catching up with the number of first marriages, while one-third of marriages now end in divorce within 10 years.

The breakdown in traditional family values and structures will in itself lead to other problems, such as child neglect, homelessness, loneliness and a fear of crime.

Those of us who do decide to slow down and work for less in the hope of leading a more enjoyable and less stressful lifestyle will have to contend with other problems, too, says the report. It reckons that by the year 2010, people retiring on a British state pension, or an underfunded personal pension, could experience "a dangerously reduced standard of living."

And it also pinpoints people currently in middle age who could become particularly vulnerable as they have to look after their own children, pay taxes toward the welfare and care provision for their parents, and also save for their own old age.

The traditional support system for the elderly could, therefore, break down and lead to greater social exclusion and loneliness, something the report terms "particularly lethal in combination with reduced incomes."

There is no question that many workers are expecting greater stress levels in the work place, and although financial rewards are in place for those who work hard, the money does not necessarily compensate for the added pressure and loss of quality of life that is experienced.

Shukan ST: Oct. 22, 1999

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