The report - Work and Poverty in Ireland: An analysis of the CSO Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2004-2010 - was jointly published by the Department and the Economic and Social Research Institute in 2012. Its findings were discussed with national and European stakeholders at a conference last December. The purpose of the study is to provide new insights into the relationship between work, unemployment and poverty, which has assumed greater importance with the economic recession and the subsequent rise in unemployment.
A particular focus of the study was on the EU concept of jobless households, defined as households where the total time allocated to work by working age adults is less than 20 per cent. The study found that the population aged 0 to 59 in jobless households rose from 13 per cent in 2005 to 22 per cent in 2010, which is twice the EU average. The high proportion of the population in jobless households reveals a structural problem that predates the current recession, though it has been exacerbated by the rise in unemployment. The severity of the problem in Ireland reflects a number of factors, namely, a higher percentage of the adult population who are not economically active; a greater likelihood that jobless adults live with other jobless adults, and a higher proportion of children living with adults in jobless households. Such households, in effect, contain adults who are furthest from the labour market and who generally have a strong pattern of educational and social class disadvantages. Furthermore, children in jobless households are at risk of inter-generational poverty.
The main policy conclusion from this study is that the number of jobless households is a key factor in determining overall levels of poverty and social exclusion. Social transfers play a key role in reducing the at-risk-of-poverty rate among jobless households and, compared to other EU countries, are considerably more effective in reducing poverty. Despite this, jobless households still experience higher levels of basic deprivation and consistent poverty and account for two-thirds of the total population in consistent poverty.
To address the issue, the Government, as part of the national social target to reduce consistent poverty to 4 per cent by 2016 and to 2 per cent or less by 2020, has agreed to set a sub-target to reduce the share of jobless households in consistent poverty. The key to ensuring that the target will be addressed is an active labour market policy. A Programme for Government priority for 2013 is to make sure that economic recovery does not bypass jobless households, by enhancing the Pathways to Work strategy to ensure new jobs go to people on the Live Register. The Government is implementing a number of actions which will have a positive impact on jobless households including (i) the new integrated employment and support service (Intreo); (ii) streamlining and restructuring of working age supports; (iii) improving labour market measures to assist those furthest from the labour market, in particular the long-term unemployed; and (iv) an area-based response to child poverty.
