Outside the box? – Women’s individual poverty risk in the EU and the role of labour market characteristics and tax-benefit policies

Publication type

CeMPA Working Paper Series

Series Number

CEMPA3/24

Series

CeMPA Working Paper Series

Authors

Publication date

March 3, 2024

Summary:

Social policy debates as early as the 1950s have focused on the activation of individuals into employment.. This assumes jobs with good working conditions and fair pay; ignores women’s reality of part-time work, unpaid care work and the gender pay gap; and has often resulted in the weakening of traditional social protection. We study the individual poverty risk of women under the adult worker paradigm across the EU using the tax-benefit model EUROMOD and EU-SILC data. Comparing the individual poverty risk of working-age women to the benchmark of typical male workers, we highlight heterogeneity driven by women’s economic situation and job characteristics and analyse the role of the tax-benefit system in reducing the gap. The analysis shows that only slightly more than one third of women fit the adult worker model, while this is the case for almost two thirds of men. Inactive and unemployed women are particularly likely to be vulnerable to poverty, but even women with the same characteristics as male reference workers experience a higher poverty risk, highlighting the role of the gender pay gap. Benefits cushion some of the gendered labour market differences but are often not generous enough for unemployed and inactive women or not sufficiently available for self-employed women. Women in atypical employment are furthermore disproportionally affected by taxes and social insurance contributions as they lead to a higher poverty rate, contributing to a larger gap compared to typical male workers.

Subjects


Related Publications

Paper download  

#578179

News

Latest findings, new research

Publications search

Search all research by subject and author

Podcasts

Researchers discuss their findings and what they mean for society

Projects

Background and context, methods and data, aims and outputs

Events

Conferences, seminars and workshops

Survey methodology

Specialist research, practice and study

Taking the long view

ISER's annual report

Themes

Key research themes and areas of interest