The ʻworking poorʼ phenomenon in Europe – a taxonomic analysis

The article discusses the problem of people who are working, but struggle with poverty. The phenomenon of ‘working poor’ is subjected to a taxonomic analysis, in which the subjective scope is limited to selected European states and the time span to the last twelve years. The aim of the article is to show the relation between work and poverty on European labour markets, including clarifying the level and structure of ‘working poor’. In order to achieve such a research goal, the results of The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions were used, and thanks to the information obtained from the Eurostat database, it was possible to carry out comparable statistical analyses. On the basis of the obtained results, it can be concluded that the working poor phenomenon exists in Europe and in future may get stronger and pose a serious challenge for European labour markets.