‘I feel like I’m in poverty. I don’t do much outside of work other than survive’: In-work poverty and multiple employment in the UK

McBride, J.; Smith, A.

doi:10.1177/2f0143831x211016054

‘I feel like I’m in poverty. I don’t do much outside of work other than survive’: In-work poverty and multiple employment in the UK

McBride, J.; Smith, A.

Authors

Professor Jo Mcbride joanne.mcbride@durham.ac.uk
Professor

A. Smith

Abstract

This paper argues for the need to reconsider the changing nature of in-work poverty (IWP). In doing so, we present evidence not included in current debates or statistics, of people working in more than one job, yet still experiencing IWP. Using the dynamic theory of poverty and a qualitative approach, we identify various structural constraints that sustain cycles of IWP. This highlights the multi-dimensionalities of poverty, incorporating the temporalities, types and depths of IWP. Our evidence demonstrates how poverty is experienced and individualised and also how it is created and sustained through paid work, rather than being challenged by it.

Citation

McBride, J., & Smith, A. (2022). ‘I feel like I’m in poverty. I don’t do much outside of work other than survive’: In-work poverty and multiple employment in the UK. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 43(3), 1440-1466. https://doi.org/10.1177/2f0143831x211016054

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Apr 8, 2021
Online Publication Date	Jun 2, 2021
Publication Date	2022-08
Deposit Date	Apr 13, 2021
Publicly Available Date	Dec 7, 2022
Journal	Economic and Industrial Democracy
Print ISSN	0143-831X
Electronic ISSN	1461-7099
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	43
Issue	3
Pages	1440-1466
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/2f0143831x211016054
Public URL	https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1277569

Files

Published Journal Article (200 Kb)
PDF

Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2021.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).