‘Politicians are increasingly talking about Jams or the “just about managing” class – but who falls into this group and why are they attracting so much attention? Jams have been described as “ordinary working people” as well as the “many, rather than the privileged few”. Jams are generally considered to be working families who fall into the poorer half of households.
Think tank the Policy Exchange describe them as “people who just manage to get by each month but whose resilience to economic shocks is not high”. In a report the think tank says that these families tend to be homeowners working in both the public and private sectors. It describes Jams as the people who “make the country work”. The report says they have a strong commitment to family life, do not take expensive holidays and while they are not poor they do not have significant disposable incomes or set aside large amounts for their retirement.’
Click here to read the rest of the article in The Sun
‘”Just about managing” families – or “Jams” as they’ve come to be known – have featured prominently in Theresa May’s rhetoric since she became prime minister. We’ve been told making their lives easier will be a top priority for her government. They look set to be a key theme in Wednesday’s autumn statement.
Who are the Jams? One of the first uses was in a paper published by the thinktank Policy Exchange last year. Its author, James Frayne, defines them as C1/C2 families: lower middle class and upper working class families, around half of all households in Britain. He characterises them as families who manage to get by, but who have low resilience to economic shocks such as rising inflation and interest rates. In other words, they are likely to be hit hard by Brexit’s economic headwinds’
Click here to read the rest of Sonia Sodha’s article in the Guardian
‘Jam is this political season’s hot new political buzzword. An acronym for “just about managing”, the term originates from a report by the think tank Policy Exchange published in June 2015, where it was essentially used as a catch-all term to describe C1 and C2 voters. Adopted by Theresa May in the early days of her premiership, she adapted the definition in a speech to apply to those families that feel like: “You have a job but you don’t always have job security. You have your own home, but you worry about paying a mortgage. You can just about manage but you worry about the cost of living and getting your kids into a good school.”’
Click here to read the rest of Matthew Smith’s article on The Times’ website
Click here to read Overlooked But Decisive: Connecting with England’s Just About Managing Classes