1 in 5 at risk of poverty ‘in employment’

ONE third of all households at risk of poverty are headed by a person with a job, according to new figures.

More than one in five adults at risk of poverty is in employment, according to the CORI Justice organisation. Households with incomes of less than €11,000 a year for a single person, or €25,000 for a household of two adults and two children are deemed the “working poor”.

CORI Justice director Fr Seán Healy has urged the Government to give priority in Budget 2008 to tackling the issue. “It is unacceptable that many of the working poor are the only people who do not benefit from changes in the annual budget and that the Government does nothing to rectify this,” he said.