In 2025, 8.3% of workers in the EU-27 were at risk of poverty, with Luxembourg above the average at 9.5%. A new study that follows workers year to year with longitudinal EU-SILC data shows that this headline annual rate hides very different realities, depending on whether in-work poverty persists, emerges among those already in work or follows entry into employment. Across the 26 EU countries studied, one in five people who have just entered employment is poor, showing that employment is not always a route out of poverty. The results also show that in-work poverty is highly persistent: workers already in work and poor the previous year account for more than half of in-work poverty across the 26 countries studied, and more than 60% in Luxembourg.
These findings highlight the need to better understand the mechanisms underlying in-work poverty before identifying appropriate policy responses.
