Working, but poor. Selected aspects of the working poor phenomenon in Europe – a taxonomic analysis

Abstract

The article addresses the problem of working people who struggle with poverty. It analyses the phenomenon of the working poor with a taxonomic analysis in which the subjective scope was limited to selected European countries (especially EU Member States and EFTA), and the time scope limited to recent years (2005-2016). The aim of this article is to present the relation between work and poverty on European labour markets, including a clarification of the level and structure of the working poor. In order to achieve this research goal, we used the results of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and we carried out comparable statistical analyses using information from the Eurostat database. On the basis of the results it can be concluded that the phenomenon of the working poor exists in Europe and in the future it may become more prevalent and pose a serious challenge for European labour markets.