Work-Poor Households: the Welfare Implications of Changing Household Employment Patterns. ESRI Policy Series No. 52. March 2004

Whelan, Christopher T. and Layte, Richard and Maitre, Bertrand and Russell, Helen and O'Connell, Philip J. (2003) Work-Poor Households: the Welfare Implications of Changing Household Employment Patterns. ESRI Policy Series No. 52. March 2004. [Policy Paper]

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Abstract

In the following report we consider how the employment situation of working-age Irish households has changed over a period of remarkable economic growth between 1994 and 2000. High levels of household joblessness became a matter of public concern in Ireland and elsewhere during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The concentration of unemployment and non-employment within households meant that many of the unemployed did not have access to the protection and support afforded by living with someone in employment. Therefore, household joblessness has serious implications for the financial situation of households and consequently for the psychological well-being of their members. It also has important implications for the scale of public support necessary to prevent poverty. For a given level of unemployment, a concentration of joblessness within households will require greater financing because there is no other source of household income.

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