EU measures of poverty in a context of rising unconventional employment.
According to EU and OECD reports on incomes, employment offers a weakening guarantee against the risk of deprivation. In-work poverty is closely associated with low levels of hours worked. Unconventional employment, often involving less-than-full hours, is rising as a share of the total, with greater work-related income uncertainty becoming an essential feature of EU job markets. However, cross-country data on in-work poverty can be misleading; in the EU, such data typically indicate wage inequality, not absolute poverty.
Greece's poverty threshold (at purchasing power parity) is now slightly below Poland's, and its share of workers at risk of poverty higher.
In the United Kingdom, there is controversy over competing ways of raising in-work incomes ahead of the government's July 8 budget.
EU-backed labour market flexibility being pursued in countries such as France and Italy is likely to see unconventional employment rise.
