The coronavirus crisis is exacerbating in-work poverty in the EU and a powerful raft of labour market and welfare measures is needed for an adequate response.
According to Eurofound, in 2018 there were more than 20 million workers in the European Union living in households at risk of poverty—an increase of in-work poverty from 8 to 10 per cent since 2006.
Because of Covid-19, virtually all EU countries are in lockdown, in an effort to ‘flatten the curve’ of new infections. These lockdowns have enormous implications for society at large.
Understanding the economic shock is crucial to responding to it. In 2019, 11 academic and research partners, including EAPN, launched a research project on in-work poverty, focusing on four clusters of workers most severely affected: low-skilled full-time permanent employees, atypical workers, self-employed persons and casual or ‘zero-hours’ workers. The project ‘Working, Yet Poor’, is funded under the Horizon 2020 scheme and will last for 3 years.
Any reflection on how the pandemic will affect in-work poverty and inequalities in Europe would need to consider the multi-layered nature of those phenomena and the role of EU institutions in combating them.
To read the full article, written by Luca Ratti, WorkYP project coordinator from the University of Luxembourg, click here: https://www.socialeurope.eu/in-work-poverty-in-times-of-pandemic