Poverty and working hours
What does this chart show?
This indicator looks at the proportion of people in poverty by the family’s work status. The number of hours worked by members of a family is important for determining whether they are likely to be in poverty or not. Families in which all adults were working full time had the lowest proportion in poverty at 8%. In contrast, those with only part-time employees in the family had the highest rate, with 45% in those families in poverty. Families with a self-employed member also had a relatively high poverty risk at 28%.
Over the last 10 years, the proportion of people in every working family type in poverty has increased. It has increased most for those with one full-time employee and one adult not working (six percentage points) and families with a self-employed adult (five percentage points). There has been less change in the last five years, with most rates at or increasing only slightly compared with earlier years.
As well as the poverty rates for these different working family types changing over time, their relative share in London has also changed. The share of all London families that have all adults working and at least one working full-time has not yet recovered to 40%, its highest rate around a decade ago. Other working family types have grown consistently, mostly displacing workless families.
In terms of which of these groups is biggest within the in-work poor, it tends to be families with adults working relatively few hours. 31% of people in in-work poverty are in a family with only part-time earners, and a further 25% are in families with one adult working full-time, and one not working. 23% of the in-work poor are in families with all adults working and at least one full-time (17% with all adults full-time, 6% with one full-time and one part-time). The remainder are self-employed families, at 21% of those in in-work poverty.
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From our Twitter
@povertylondon
This interactive table compares Poverty Child Poverty Inequality Homelessness Temporary Accommodation Evictions Affordability Unemployment Low Pay Benefits Council Tax Support GCSE attainment Infant Mortality Premature Mortality in each London borough. https://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/boroughs/overview-of-london-boroughs/ … pic.twitter.com/EuJJzZz4Tf
23 Aug 2018. @patrickjbutler uses our @PovertyLondon data to highlight that #TowerHamlets has the highest level of child poverty in #London (43%) as a surge of wealthy incomers are skewing deprivation figures. As a London council leader says the reality of poverty is still very much present https://twitter.com/patrickjbutler/status/1177481438985240577 …
27 Sep 2019Official figures suggest that the proportion of households in work has risen, however in-work poverty remains a growing issue. Our @PovertyLondon data shows that that there are 450,000 more Londoners in working families in poverty compared to 10 years ago http://bit.ly/2ZBVYRr
30 Aug 2019A new report says that elderly people living in the UK suffer some of the highest levels of poverty in western Europe. Our @PovertyLondon data shows that 19% of London’s pensioners live below the poverty line, higher than anywhere else in England (14%) http://bit.ly/2P6l76w
20 Aug 2019Our @PovertyLondon Profile data shows that 37% of London’s children live below the poverty line. We all want to live in a society where families are able to make ends meet but the school holidays can be a particularly tricky time https://bit.ly/314GG8L
1 Aug 2019