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The proportion of people living in, or at risk of, poverty despite being employed has been steadily climbing for decades. This rise affects economic stability, social cohesion and the very concept of EU citizenship. WorkYP set out to investigate the roots of the problem over the course of its 3-year activity.
“We wanted to understand why in-work poverty has become embedded in our labour markets and to examine policy approaches,” says project coordinator Luca Ratti, associate professor of European and Comparative Labour Law at the University of Luxembourg. “If one in ten workers is ‘working poor’, something is fundamentally broken.”
Addressing in-work poverty is enshrined in the European Pillar of Social Rights to ensure all workers receive fair and adequate wages as well as adequate protection for all kinds of employment.
To shed light on this under-researched (and, in some EU Member States, unrecognised) phenomenon, the project WorkYP assembled a consortium of 11 partners. “Prior to 2020, there had been limited discussion of in-work poverty, so the societal objective was to raise awareness of it, while the scientific objective was to provide a comparative legal analysis to combat in-work poverty,” explains Ratti.
Over three years, the project team looked at Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden – each with its own distinct geographical location, social system and legal orders. The focus shifted from general labour market trends, which had been investigated in previous studies, to pinpointing specific vulnerable groups, revealing a concerning reality.
“Vulnerable and Underrepresented Persons are neglected by current labour laws and protections, and are disproportionately affected by in-work poverty,” says Ratti. “We wanted to understand what the law does for them, because a system that cannot shelter 100 % of the people for which it’s designed, becomes an issue for all EU citizens.”
Disparities and gender paradox
The research exposed critical gaps in labour protections among low-wage employees in sectors such as tourism and construction, and among self-employed individuals who lack social safety nets. This indicates that legislation is failing to protect certain segments of the workforce.
WorkYP also revealed significant disparities in in-work poverty rates among neighbouring countries, with Luxembourg having almost 14 % of its working population living in poverty compared to Belgium’s 5 %. Additionally, the project highlighted the gender paradox, where women often appear above the poverty line in household income assessments but remain in poverty individually.
Workshops in the seven countries helped highlight the real-life experiences of those affected by in-work poverty, enriching the study with qualitative data. These events were instrumental in gathering valuable, on-the-ground insights that informed the project’s research.
Policy recommendations and impact
These findings have garnered significant attention from policymakers and the public, sparking a much-needed conversation about in-work poverty. Additionally, its recommendations have underlined the need for holistic measures to combat the situation.
At the WorkYP final conference, these proposals were presented to EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit and UN Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter. The recommendations include strengthening social security systems to cover the self-employed, implementing robust minimum wage laws and providing targeted financial support to struggling households – with a view to helping EU citizens restore their confidence in public governance.
WorkYP came to an end in January 2023, but its legacy continues. Its work has penetrated scientific debate in an unprecedented manner, generating widespread focus on in-work poverty among European and international researchers and policymakers that did not exist before. The project alone delivered more than 3 000 pages of written material, two books and over 40 scientific contributions in highly esteemed journals at the European and national level.
Challenging the dramatic rise and persistence of in-work poverty across Europe may be long and difficult, but WorkYP has successfully raised awareness at both public and policy level, and provided the tools to address it.