Who is counted as in-work poor? Testing five different definitions when measuring in-work poverty in Sweden 1987–2017

Purpose - There is ongoing debate amongst in-work poverty researchers as to how to answer the question “who is counted as in-work poor?” and how to define the minimum size of work that should be used to determine a “working threshold”. The purpose of this paper aims to contribute to this debate by testing five different definitions of a “working threshold” and discussing their implications when testing the different measurement outcomes. Design/methodology/approach - The authors use data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), including the total population registered as living in Sweden for each year from 1987 to 2017. All calculations are on a yearly basis and in fixed prices (2017). The data set used is based on linked administrative data retrieved from Statistics Sweden and the software used is SAS 9.4. Findings - Results show how in-work poverty trends differ by measurement approach. The two definitions with the lowest income thresholds are found to include a very heterogenic group of individuals. The development of in-work poverty in Sweden over 30 years show decreasing in-work poverty during the first decade followed by an increase to almost the same levels at the end of the period. In-work poverty in Sweden has transformed from being female-dominated in 1987 and the typical person in in-work poverty 2017 is a male immigrant, aged 26–55 years. Practical implications - This methodological discussion might lead to a new definition of who is a worker amongst the in-work poor, which could consequently affect who is counted as being in in-work poverty and lead to new social policy measures. Originality/value - This is, to the authors' knowledge, the first time different definitions of work requirement used to define in-work poverty have been tested on a data set including the total population and over a period of 30 years.