The information on the number and proportion of adults who were out of work and in poverty is shown in the following table.
Before housing costs After housing costs Number (million) Proportion (percentage) Number (million) Proportion (percentage) 2002-03 3.4 37 4.3 47 2003-04 3.3 37 4.3 47 2004-05 3.2 35 4.0 44 2005-06 3.4 37 4.3 47 2006-07 3.5 38 4.5 48 Notes: 1. These statistics are based on Households Below Average Income, sourced from the Family Resources Survey and Low Income Dynamics data, sourced from the British Household Panel Survey. 2. Small changes should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. 3. The reference period for Households Below Average Income figures is single financial years. 4. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication ‘Households Below Average Income’ series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or “equivalised”) for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 5. For the Households Below Average Income series, incomes have been equivalised using OECD equalisation factors. 6. Numbers of adults have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 and proportions have been rounded to the nearest percentage. 7. Adults have been classified as workless if they are unemployed or economically inactive. 8. Adults have been classified as being of working age if they are 64 or below for men or 59 or below for women. Source: Households Below Average Income
Information on the number and proportion of adults who had moved out of poverty as a result of moving into work is not available. Poverty is a complex and multidimensional issue with many different factors acting at the same time in moving individuals into or out of poverty.
The risk of a working age adult who is working being in a low income household in the United Kingdom in 2006-07 is much lower at 7 per cent. (before housing costs) and 11 per cent. (after housing costs), than for workless working age adults, where the equivalent proportions are 38 per cent. (before housing costs) and 48 per cent. (after housing costs) as shown in the aforementioned table. Data from the Low Income Dynamics publication illustrate that an increase in the number of workers or full time workers in a household greatly increases the likelihood of that household moving out of low income. The Low Income Dynamics paper is available in the Library.