Trends in the demographic composition of poverty among working families in Germany and in Israel, 1991-2011

Abstract

While the working poverty rate in advanced economies is about 7%, the demographic composition of the working poor varies considerably across countries. Providing an in-depth look at the demographic composition of working poverty, this paper builds on a typology of three major antecedents of poverty among workers - age, household structure, and minority status - and documents their changing association with the likelihood of poverty in Germany and Israel for a 21-year span during which both countries underwent major labor market and welfare reforms. The paper utilizes data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the Israeli Income Survey, 1991-2011, and includes logistics models and a decomposition analysis of the demographic components of trends in working poverty. Results document a pronounced increase in poverty risks among the Arab population and households with more than two children in Israel since 2000. Contrastingly, the most pronounced changes in Germany have occurred among single-headed households.

Keywords: Cross-national research; Demography; Working poverty.