In-work poverty

The nature of poverty, social protection and work in Scotland has gone through a period of unprecedented change, including the emergence of in-work poverty.  

In 2012-13, in-work poverty accounted for more than half (52%) of all working age poverty in Scotland. Compared with the previous year, this was an increase of 50,000 working age adults and signs of a continuing, slow upward trend. During the same period, six-in-ten children in poverty in Scotland were living in a working household.  

The drivers behind the rise of in-work poverty are complex and linked to wider global economic changes, economic recession, a shift towards a service-sector economy and the changing nature of work, which is increasingly characterised as being short-term, part-time, and insecure for significant sections of the adult workforce.  

During 2013, we produced a paper to present an overview of the changing nature of poverty and work, the rise of in-work poverty, and the evidence-based implications for population health and wellbeing of these changes within Scotland.