One in ten employed persons aged 18 years or over in the EU were found to be at risk of poverty in 2018, αccording to data published today by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.
According to Eurostat, over recent years, this share has risen from 8.6% in 2008 to 9.5% in 2018. In Cyprus, the same rate was 7.4% (7.9% for men and 6.8% for women). In Greece 11% (12.5% for men and 8.8% for women).
More specifically, the in-work poverty risk in the EU differs slightly between women and men. In 2018, 9.9% of employed men were at risk of poverty compared to 9.1% of women.
“In 2018, 9.9% of employed men were at risk of poverty compared to 9.1% of women.”
Part-time workers and employees on temporary contracts are more likely to be at risk of in-work poverty than those who work full-time and who have permanent contracts.
In 2018, part-time workers in the EU were at twice the risk of monetary poverty (15.7%) than those employed full-time (7.8%), while employees with temporary jobs had almost a three times higher risk (16.2%) than those with permanent jobs (6.1%).
The in-work at-risk-of-poverty rates varied across EU Member States: the highest rates were observed in Romania (15.3%), followed by Luxemburg (13.5%), Spain (12.9%), Italy (12.2%), the United Kingdom (11.3%) and Greece (11.0%), while the lowest rates were recorded in Finland (3.1%), Czechia (3.4%), Ireland (4.9%), Belgium and Croatia (both 5.2%) as well as Denmark (5.4%).
“In 2018, part-time workers in the EU were at twice the risk of monetary poverty (15.7%) than those employed full-time (7.8%).”
Over the last decade, the share of employed persons at risk of poverty has risen in a majority of Member States. The highest increase was recorded in Luxembourg (4.1 pp), followed by Italy (3.2 pp), the United Kingdom (2.8 pp), Hungary (2.6 pp) and Bulgaria (2.4 pp), while the highest decreases were observed in Greece (-3.3 pp), Latvia and Romania (both -2.4 pp), Portugal (-2.1 pp) and Finland (-2.0 pp).
