"The aim of this paper is to discuss two problematical aspects of the statistical approach to the notion of ‘working poor': the definition of workers (including the definition used for the European indicator ‘in-work poverty risk'); and the two-level construction of the category (worker-individual / at-risk-ofpoverty household). It argues that the approach adopted in defining workers might be too narrow to take into account the variety of employment structures in EU Member States, and that the combination of individual and household in the definition makes it difficult to analyse the links between labour market status at the individual level and the risk of poverty. This argues in favour of a more encompassing approach to workers as well as further analysis aimed at gaining a better understanding of the ‘labour market' and ‘family' dimensions of the phenomenon."

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