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Today, employment is not a guarantee against poverty. In South Asia, it is estimated that nearly 90% of the workforce is either poor or near poor. But In-work poverty is a phenomenon which also affects more than 8% of the working age EU population. According to the international criteria this concept of the working poor applies to those with an income below 60% of the national median. A significant increase in poverty among the working age population is obviously a direct consequence of the economic crisis in the 2008s. In Italy, for example, this is a phenomenon that affects 3.75 million employees and self-employed. It represents about 15% of people in the labour force, which is considerable. Another example, in the UK: more and more Britons are reliant on social welfare because new jobs are increasingly concentrated in low-paid work, resulting in 4.4 million jobs which do not allow them to live with dignity. Moreover, the most affected are young people under 30 years old. And such low-income levels mean that these working poor have no financial autonomy and as a result remain dependent on family. In this context, many women do not have children. As a consequence the population is aging and corporations must turn to immigration to meet the demand. Thus wages are kept low: it is a vicious circle. But that is the sad reality in many countries.

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