1 in 10 employed persons in EU at risk of poverty

One in ten employed persons aged 18 years or over in the EU were found to be at risk of poverty in 2018, according to data published on Friday by Eurostat, the statistical service of the EU.

Figures show that the situation has gotten worse in recent years, shown be the increase from 8.6 per cent in 2008 to 9.5 per cent in 2018.

In Cyprus the same rate was 7.4 per cent (7.9 per cent of men and 6.8 per cent of women), significantly lower than Greece which recorded 11 per cent (12.5 per cent of men and 8.8 per cent of women). The figures however also showed that Greece recorded the highest decrease in the EU in the share of employed persons at risk of poverty.

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 per cent) than those employed full-time (7.8 per cent), while employees with temporary jobs had almost a three times higher risk (16.2 per cent) than those with permanent jobs (6.1 per cent).

The in-work at-risk-of-poverty rates varied across EU Member States: The highest rates were observed in Romania (15.3 per cent), followed by Luxemburg (13.5 per cent), Spain (12.9 per cent), Italy (12.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (11.3 per cent) and Greece (11 per cent), while the lowest rates were recorded in Finland (3.1 per cent), Czechia (3.4 per cent), Ireland (4.9 per cent), Belgium and Croatia (both 5.2 per cent) as well as Denmark (5.4 per cent).

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).