Social Quality and Working Poverty in the European Union and Slovakia in Particular

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses working poverty as a socioeconomic human condition that leads to reduced social quality of daily life circumstances. The analyses are based on the social quality theory (SQT) and approach (SQA). Social quality (as an existential human condition) and working poverty (as a result of a combination of aspects of the conditional factors of social quality) have not yet been investigated as two interconnected phenomena. We analyzed working poverty in the EU and Slovakia by assessing its relationships with these aspects of the conditional factors. On a societal level we also assessed influences of processes in the socioeconomic and financial, sociopolitical and legal, sociocultural and welfare, and socioenvironmental dimensions. Our research was based on Eurostat data, other available databases, and two social quality studies on societal processes in Ukraine. We conclude with specific proposals and recommendations to reduce and mitigate the impacts of working poverty.