Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004
92 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on a recent report by the ESRI on the number of work poor households here; the efforts she has made to reduce the number of work-poor households throughout the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17700/04]
View answerThe recently published ESRI report, Work-poor Households: The Welfare Implications of Changing Household Employment Patterns, examines how the employment situation of working age Irish households has changed over a period of remarkable economic and employment growth between 1994 and 2000.
The report found that households where none of the adults of working age 18 to 64 years were working fell from 22% in 1994 to less than 14% in 2000. The rate of work poor households, which was one of the highest in the EU in 1985, fell to the EU average by 2000. The report showed that the decline in joblessness was particularly strong among households with children. In 1994, 27% of children lived in jobless households, but this fell to 9% in 2000. This is a particularly positive development in the context of the Government's objective of reducing child poverty.
Those households shown to be at particular risk of joblessness were the households of older people aged 55 to 64 years, lone parents, those with a chronic health problem or disability, those without qualifications and those with a history of unskilled work. These types of household were also more likely to be persistently work poor, that is, to have no one in employment for three or more years.
The report highlights the importance of employment as a route out of poverty and the significant progress which has been made in this regard. It also highlights the central role of poor educational outcomes in increasing vulnerability to household joblessness. Improving access to and completion of formal education is thus a key policy tool in preventing households becoming work poor.
The proportion of work poor households headed up by lone parents fell from 70% of such households in 1997 to 41% in 2000. The report does, however, raise concerns about the quality and long-term sustainability of some forms of lone parent employment. Of households where the reference person was disabled or chronically ill, 60% were found to be persistently work poor. Sickness or disability benefits accounted for the biggest share of welfare income among work poor households in 2000. The study notes that the disabled and chronically ill can face a number of barriers to participation in the labour market and reinforces the need for these barriers to be addressed.
The report will be of particular value in the ongoing development of the Government's anti-poverty strategy and in focusing attention on the needs of those categories of households most likely to have no one in work.
