Focus on jobs, not benefits, to cut welfare bill, says thinktank

Young people attend the London Job Show earlier this month. Photograph: Susannah Ireland/The Guardian

Tackling the root causes of joblessness, instead of cutting benefits, is the best way to get the welfare bill down, and polling shows voters support that approach, according to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

In a forthcoming report, JRF economists show that hitting the government’s target of getting 80% of the working age population into jobs would cut the cost of universal credit by £10bn – an eighth of the current bill.