Henning Lohmann - Böcker

There has been a rapid global expansion of academic and policy attention focusing on in-work poverty, illustrating that across the world there are increasing numbers of people who could be described as the ‘working poor’. Taking a global and multi-disciplinary perspective, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of current research at the intersection between work and poverty.Authoritative contributions from leading researchers in the field provide comprehensive coverage of conceptual and measurement issues, causal drivers and mechanisms, key empirical findings, policy issues and debates. The Handbook is unique in offering perspectives from a wide range of regions and countries, stretching beyond developed countries. It also does justice to the paradigmatic diversity in approaches to in-work poverty, offering a wealth of variety in disciplinary approaches.Academically rigorous, yet clear and concise, this Handbook will benefit students and scholars of public policy, politics, social policy and development studies. It will also prove accessible for policy analysts and journalists looking to explore the issue from new angles.Contributors include: P. Barbieri, A. Barrientos, K.M. Blankenship, D. Brady, E. Crettaz, G. Cutuli, J.C. Feres, N.-S. Fritsch, M. Giesselmann, J. Horemans, A. Horton, L. Kenworthy, M. Leibbrandt, A. Levanon, D.T. Lichter, K. Lilenstein, H. Lohmann, J.-d. Lue, B. Maître, L. Maldonado, L.C. Maldonado, S. Marchal, I. Marx, R. Maurizio, R. Nieuwenhuis, B. Nolan, S. Oselin, S. Ponthieux, L. Pradella, J. Prieto, E. Saburov, W. Salverda, S.R. Sanders, S. Scherer, D. Seikel, D. Spannagel, B.C. Thiede, V. Unnikrishnan, W. Van Lancker, L. Vandecasteele, G. Verbist, R. Verwiebe, C.T. Whelan, J. Wills, I. Woolard, C.-Y. Yeh

There has been a rapid global expansion of academic and policy attention focusing on in-work poverty, illustrating that across the world there are increasing numbers of people who could be described as the ‘working poor’. Taking a global and multi-disciplinary perspective, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of current research at the intersection between work and poverty.Authoritative contributions from leading researchers in the field provide comprehensive coverage of conceptual and measurement issues, causal drivers and mechanisms, key empirical findings, policy issues and debates. The Handbook is unique in offering perspectives from a wide range of regions and countries, stretching beyond developed countries. It also does justice to the paradigmatic diversity in approaches to in-work poverty, offering a wealth of variety in disciplinary approaches.Academically rigorous, yet clear and concise, this Handbook will benefit students and scholars of public policy, politics, social policy and development studies. It will also prove accessible for policy analysts and journalists looking to explore the issue from new angles.Contributors include: P. Barbieri, A. Barrientos, K.M. Blankenship, D. Brady, E. Crettaz, G. Cutuli, J.C. Feres, N.-S. Fritsch, M. Giesselmann, J. Horemans, A. Horton, L. Kenworthy, M. Leibbrandt, A. Levanon, D.T. Lichter, K. Lilenstein, H. Lohmann, J.-d. Lue, B. Maître, L. Maldonado, L.C. Maldonado, S. Marchal, I. Marx, R. Maurizio, R. Nieuwenhuis, B. Nolan, S. Oselin, S. Ponthieux, L. Pradella, J. Prieto, E. Saburov, W. Salverda, S.R. Sanders, S. Scherer, D. Seikel, D. Spannagel, B.C. Thiede, V. Unnikrishnan, W. Van Lancker, L. Vandecasteele, G. Verbist, R. Verwiebe, C.T. Whelan, J. Wills, I. Woolard, C.-Y. Yeh

For a long time in-work poverty was not associated with European welfare states. Recently, the topic has gained relevance as welfare state retrenchment and international competition in globalized economies has put increasing pressures on individuals and families. This book provides explanations as to why in-work poverty is high in certain countries and low in others.Much of the present concern about the working poor has to do with recent changes in labour market policies in Europe. However, this book is not primarily about low pay. Instead, it questions whether gainful employment is sufficient to earn a living - both for oneself and for one's family members. There are, however, great differences between European countries. This book argues that the incidence and structure of the working poor cannot be understood without a thorough understanding of each country's institutional context. This includes the system of wage-setting, the level of decommodification provided by the social security system and the structure of families and households. Combining cross-country studies with in-depth analyses from a national perspective, the book reveals that in-work poverty in Europe is a diverse, multi-faceted phenomenon occurring in equally diverse institutional, economic and socio-demographic settings.With its rich detail and conclusions, this genuinely comparative study will be of interest to academics and researchers of labour and welfare economics, social policy and European studies as well as to policy advisers.

Das Bild von erwerbstätigen Armen ist oftmals durch die Vorstellung von hart arbeitenden, aber gering bezahlten Arbeitskräften geprägt, deren Alltag die beiden US amerikanischen Journalisten Barbara Ehrenreich (2005) und David Shipler (2005) am Beispiel von einfachen Industriearbeitern, Servicekräften oder Erntehel fern eindrücklich geschildert haben. Auch in europäischen Wohlfahrtsstaaten, um die es in dieser Arbeit gehen soll, sind entsprechende Bilder präsent, wenn von armen Erwerbstätigen die Rede ist. Dies ist aber nur eine Seite des Problems ‚Ar mut von Erwerbstätigen’. Aus anderer Perspektive sind es nicht allein geringbezahl te Jobs, die als Ursache von Armut von Erwerbstätigen in Frage kommen. Frühere Arbeiten, wie beispielsweise die bislang umfassendste Studie zu den ‚working poor’ in Deutschland (Strengmann Kuhn 2003), weisen darauf hin, dass der Haushalts kontext eine entscheidende Rolle dabei spielt, ob ein Einkommen ausreichend ist oder nicht. Auch Normalverdiener, die allein eine Familie zu versorgen haben, gehören daher häufiger als manche andere Gruppen zu den erwerbstätigen Armen. Die Berücksichtigung dieses Aspekts setzt allerdings voraus, dass man Armut von Erwerbstätigen im Sinne der allgemeinen Armutsforschung definiert, die von den in einem Haushalt verfügbaren Ressourcen ausgeht und nicht allein von der Verteilung der Erwerbseinkommen. Dies ist auch die grundsätzliche Sichtweise dieser Arbeit. Dieses Verständnis von ‚Armut von Erwerbstätigen’ ist in der wissenschaftli chen und politischen Diskussion inzwischen durchaus etabliert. So wird seit einigen Jahren ein entsprechender Indikator in der europäischen Sozialberichterstattung verwendet (vgl. Bardone/Guio 2005). Dabei zeigt sich einerseits, dass sich das Ausmaßvon Armut von Erwerbstätigen zwischen Ländern erheblich unterscheidet.