The risk of poverty

17th December 2011

New figures released this week suggest that one in ten Poles currently in employment run the risk of being sucked into poverty.

The data, released by the European Commission in its annual report entitled “Employment and social development in Europe”, shows that as many as 11 percent of those with work could easily slip into the financial quagmire.

The statistics are made even more eye-opening when compared to the average figure for the European Union, which currently sits at 8 percent.

The report states that those employed through temporary contracts or with a lower level of education are amongst those most threatened, the former being as high as 12.9 percent.

It also found that the risk of poverty was four times higher in households containing only one breadwinner where it reached 20 percent, compared to only 5 percent in cases where two people were in full-time employment.

However, Poland was by no means the worst nation listed in the study.
Romania was as high as 17 percent and Greece and Spain hit almost 14 and 13 percent respectively.