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A person attending a soup kitchen in Malaga. Migue Fernández
Almost one in five people in employment in Andalucía are poor
Statistics

Almost one in five people in employment in Andalucía are poor

An Oxfam Intermón report reveals that you are more likely to suffer in-work poverty if you live in the regions in southern and eastern mainland Spain and the Canary Islands due to their dominant trades being agriculture, construction and the service industry

Cristina Vallejo

Friday, 18 October 2024, 13:21

Andalucía is the region with the highest in-work poverty rate in Spain: 19.4% of workers in the region - practically one in five - live below the poverty line. This is reflected in the report 'Working Poverty: When working is not enough to make ends meet' produced by Oxfam Intermón (an NGO affiliated to the global charity of Oxfam) and made public at midnight on Tuesday this week. This figure is around six percentage points above the Spanish average (13.7%).

The gap is wider still when looking at the regions that have the least such poverty: the in-work poverty rate in Andalucía is three times higher than the rate in Navarre and the Basque country, where the risk of poverty affects 6.3% and 6.6% respectively of the working population. The regions closest to Andalucía are Extremadura, which suffers an in-work poverty rate of 17.2%, and Castilla-La Mancha at 15.4%.

"You are more likely to suffer in-work poverty if you live in the south and east of mainland Spain or in the Canary Islands"

Oxfam Intermón, when analysing the different variables that can influence in-work poverty, has detected that "the region where you are resident is confirmed as an explanatory force in itself" as you are "more likely to suffer in-work poverty if you live in the communities to the south and east of the peninsula or in the Canary Islands."

In this way, the report goes further: "in Spain there are two territorial inequality gaps, firstly between the countryside and the city and secondly because of the economic imbalances existing between the centre and north of the peninsula and the rest of Spain."

The NGO also sets out some hypotheses as to the causes: "The reasons why empty Spain [abandoned villages, exodus to cities and coasts] and the regions in the south and east of Spain have more in-work poverty can be explained by the greater proportion in these regions of some of the occupations that are most affected by market instabilities: agriculture, construction and the hospitality industry, among others."

The primary sector, the most affected by in-work poverty

In this regard, the report details the in-work poverty rate by sector in Spain as a whole. Workers in the primary sector, made up of agriculture, livestock, forestry and fishing, are the most affected: 31.4%, almost a third, suffer in-work poverty.

These are followed by domestic workers (29.4%) as well as the workforces in hospitality and construction at 21.1% and 19.6% respectively. Standing at just over 15% are two other industry sectors: artistic and recreational activities and administrative work.

"These six sectors stand out for being mostly low-skilled jobs, with a high degree of contractual informality or contractual irregularity, seasonality of work and vulnerability of labour rights," states the report, adding that: "Moreover, sectors such as agriculture, hospitality and construction take up a significant, relative proportion [of the working population] in the regions with the highest in-work poverty, which could explain the higher incidence of this in regions such as Andalucía, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, the Canary Islands and Valencia.

Oxfam Intermón suggests not only "dignifying the conditions of this type of employment" but also implementing "policies to improve the productive fabric of these regions in order to diversify the labour supply."

At the other end of the table are workers in financial and insurance activities, with an in-work poverty rate of just 3%.

Definition of in-work poverty

915.79 euros

"When we talk about in-work poverty we have to think of a working person who earns less than 915.79 euros per month"

But what are we talking about when we refer to the concept of in-work poverty? The NGO explains that poverty in monetary terms is measured by establishing a threshold, which in this case corresponds to 60% of the median equivalised household income, below which one is considered to be at risk of poverty. For this purpose the living conditions survey, published by Spain's INE (national statistics institute), is used. The most complete data are in the 2023 edition of the survey that uses data from 2022. The survey sets the threshold at 10,989.50 euros per year for a single person household.

So in-work poverty is defined as poverty experienced by people who are in work and whose income is below that poverty line. "When we talk about in-work poverty, we have to think of a working person who earns less than 915.79 euros per month and has to pay for housing, electricity, water, shopping baskets, etc by themselves. This is the reality behind in-work poverty, working and not earning enough to be able to pay for the most basic and everyday expenses of life."

Oxfam Intermón also gives another example of in-work poverty, that of a household consisting of two adults and two minors: if they had an annual household income of less than 23,077.95 euros - meaning they are providing for four people on less than 1,923.16 euros per month - they would be in in-work poverty.

The report completes a type of sketch outlining what in-work poverty looks like in Spain. In terms of gender, it is more prevalent among men than among women (12.4% compared to 10.4% respectively). By age, the highest incidence is found among people aged 45 to 49: 12.2% of workers in this age group are affected. By educational level, the risk of poverty is higher among people with only a primary education (20.7%), while those with a university education have only 5.5% affected by poverty.

By type of employment relationship, while poverty affects one in ten people in salaried employment, the rate is 27% among the self-employed. Moreover, while 10% of those in full-time employment are in in-work poverty, among part-time workers the incidence more than doubles to 23%.

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surinenglish Almost one in five people in employment in Andalucía are poor