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Group 10: Very Low Income Rural Communities

These close-knit communities comprise a mix of households, although families do dominate with
children of differing ages featuring. Adult ages vary
but less than average are over the age of 65. In
terms of their ethnic origin, we see an extremely
high incidence of native aborigines living in these communities.

Living in rural locations, these householders have made homes in a mix of detached and semi-detached housing. Tenure patterns are characteristically mixed. They tend to live in small and often poor quality housing which commands low weekly rent or mortgage payments. Spend on utility bills is also low.

Household incomes are very low, as are qualifications. Occupations vary quite dramatically with many working in blue collar, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled trades, as well as roles in the community and in service industries. However we do see some residents holding down employment in white collar, managerial and professional positions, trying hard to work their way up the social ladder. Employment covers all areas of industry from rural and manufacturing sectors through to services and quaternary sectors. Nonetheless, levels of unemployment are noticeably high in these areas, being 55% higher than the national average.

Few of these households have access to the internet and therefore internet usage is very low. They are likely to respond to mail order offers, as well as television and radio promotions. Due to their limited finances, spend on clothing and footwear is low. Similarly expenditure on groceries is limited and recreational activities tend to focus around low cost fun.

Because of their low disposable incomes they are only able to make a meagre contribution, if anything at all, to their future through a pension or life assurance policy. As one would expect, expenditure on healthcare is typically low.

Car ownership varies amongst this group. Some households have up to two cars and others do not have a private vehicle at all and either walk or cycle to work or simply work from home.

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