Family demographic processes and in-work poverty: A systematic review

(2022) - Antonino Polizzi, Emanuela Struffolino, Zachary Van Winkle

Journal: Advances in Life Course Research
Link:: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1040260822000028
DOI:: 10.1016/j.alcr.2022.100462
Links::
Tags:: #paper #SocialHistory #Gender #LifeCourse
Cite Key:: [@polizziFamilyDemographicProcesses2022]

Abstract

This article reviews ever published quantitative evidence on in-work poverty and family demographic processes in OECD and EU-28 countries. Despite the increasing attention to in-work poverty in Europe and beyond, a comprehensive and critical review on how family demographic processes shape in-work poverty risks is still missing. In this systematic review, we first provide a quantitative review of results from analyses that estimated the association between in-work poverty and parental home leaving, union formation, marriage, parenthood, and dissolution of non-marital and marital unions. This allows us to formulate tentative conclusions about whether and in which direction family demographic processes are associated with in-work poverty. Second, we discuss in detail conceptual and methodological advances in in-work poverty research, such as longitudinal analytical designs or attempts to make in-work poverty research more sensitive to policy context, gender, and the life course. Our review highlights theoretical and methodological challenges for future studies linking in-work poverty and family demography.

Notes

“– employed individuals who live in households with incomes below the poverty threshold represents a worrisome phenomenon in advanced democracies that can engender social exclusion. Moreover, in-work poverty challenges workbased anti-poverty strategies that grew popular in the 1990s, because it highlights that employment is not always sufficient to protect individuals and their households from poverty.” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 1)

“First, in-work poverty is not synonymous with low-paid employment.” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 1)

“Second, the processes that increase the risk of poverty for the (self-)employed are generally different from those affecting persons not attached to the labor market, such as retirees” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 1)

“poverty risk of persons active on the labor market is shaped by the interaction of macroeconomic (e.g., recessions and deindustrialization), demographic (e.g., rising divorce rates), and institutional (e.g., labor market and childcare policies) factors (Crettaz, 2021; Lohmann & Crettaz, 2018). Together, these macro-level factors also determine how micro-level circumstances, such as changes in employment and partnership status, affect financial hardship among workers” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 1)

“n affluent western democracies, in-work poverty has traditionally been attributed to the role of economic restructuring, tertiarization, technological change, and the polarization of skills and job opportunities (Acemoglu & Autor, 2011).” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)

“Another line of research emphasizes the relation between in-work poverty and different steps of the income generation and redistribution process within and across households (e.g., from wages to gross household income to post-tax/post-transfer household income; Lohmann, 2010; Lohmann & Crettaz, 2018; Strengmann-Kuhn, 2003).” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)

“In-work poverty is commonly operationalized by referring to an objective monetary indicator of economic deprivation, namely income” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)

“First, poverty can be defined either in relative terms, usually compared to a share of the median income in a given” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)

“country, or in absolute terms, compared to having an income to maintain basic living standards in that country. Second, income can be measured on a spectrum ranging from (1) disposable cash income after taxes and transfers, which is the sum of all types of money income, including all cash and near-cash transfers, minus taxes and social insurance contributions, to (2) market income before taxes and transfers, which does not account for taxes, social insurance contributions, or transfers. Finally, equivalence scales are used to adjust household income for economies of scale” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)

“Relative poverty measures generally assign an equivalence weight to each household type based on the size of the household and the age of its members.” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)

“Because countries follow very specific in-work poverty definitions (see Crettaz, 2013:351 for an overview), we focus on those used by institutions that cover multiple OECD and EU countries : the OECD, the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)” (Polizzi et al., 2022, p. 2)