Despite rising employment rates in the developed world many families still live in permenant poverty and risk permenant social exclusion, according to the OECD’s Employment Outlook 2001.
Analysis of the new figures reveals that poverty, while only a temporary setback for many, can become a long-term trap for others.
In 12 European Union countries, 59 per cent of the poor had incomes over three years that, on average, fell below the poverty threshold of less than 50 per cent of median income. These ratios rose to 67 per cent in Canada and 78 per cent in the United States.
In many cases, the report shows, the majority of individuals who escape poverty in a given year will re-enter it within a short period of time.
Low earnings potential due to lack of qualifications or valuable work experience, and the burden of family responsibilities are among the main causes of long-term poverty.
For this reason, the OECD says, family-friendly policies such as quality childcare, maternity leave and flexible working-hours must be encouraged in developed countries to combating poverty, particularly by making it easier for single parents to enter the labour market.
The report also recommends that governments structure employment policies in such a way as to distinguish between those requiring temporary relief and those at high risk of exclusion over long periods.
Poverty is more persistent, the report says, in households containing no workers and in households composed of a single adult and children.
Moreover, persistence of poverty is higher for children than for adults, meaning that there is a clear risk of passing poverty on from one generation to the next.
The OECD’s Employment Outlook 2001 notes that governments increasingly are turning to strategies aimed at encouraging people to find work.
OECD’s annual Employment Outlook documents patterns and causes of poverty in 14 developed countries – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.