Better worker rights laws urged to tackle poverty

The recession has meant many people struggle to find and keep a job

Laws protecting workers' rights must be improved to tackle poverty, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

It says the number of people moving repeatedly between unemployment and work had risen by 60% since 2006.

The foundation said its research showed work is not a "sustainable route out of poverty" unless job security and low pay are also addressed.

The Department for Work and Pensions said it had committed £5bn to help people return to work.

The charity said about a fifth of poverty is 'recurrent', whereby people escape from poverty on a temporary basis.

Due to the recession's effect on the job market, many workers have had no choice but to accept short-term contracts or temporary work.

Out of poverty

As a consequence, some have been left moving from earning low wages to earning no money on a regular basis. That means while they might move out of relative poverty - the escape is only temporary.

The charity says government policy and legislation is failing to reflect this phenomenon and it is calling for changes, including improvements to the rights and conditions of employees.

Chris Goulden, poverty research manager at the foundation, said: "A plain message from the research is that employment does not provide a sustainable route out of poverty unless job security, low pay and lack of career progression are also addressed."

He said that as employment grows more insecure "it is becoming ever clearer that getting a job does not provide a solution on its own".

Minimum income levels

"This raises the worry that when it comes to employment as a way of lifting people out of poverty, many are merely bumping along the runway and never taking off," he said.

A Department for Work and Pensions spokeswoman said "work is the best route out of poverty", which is why £5bn had been committed to getting people back to work, in addition to "welfare reforms which will keep everyone who can work, close to the labour market".

She said: "The Better Off In Work credit will guarantee that everyone who has been on benefits for six months will be at least £40 a week better off when they go into work, so that we can guarantee that work will pay.

"Together with the national minimum wage, tax credits address in-work poverty by guaranteeing minimum levels of income for families."