Policy Brief: In-Work Poverty: What can Governments do?

While work is often the best pathway out of poverty, employment does not always guarantee an adequate living standard. At the outset of the current economic downturn, the risk of in-work poverty was significant in most OECD countries. Indeed, most working-age persons living in poverty were part of a household containing at least one worker. While the social safety nets in place substantially weaken the link between weak labour-market outcomes and poverty in virtually all OECD countries, the current jobs crisis is undoubtedly nudging poverty rates higher among the working-age population in many countries. Many workers have lost their job or work fewer hours, two situations that raise the risk of poverty.