In Reply to: re: street protest by the unemployed. posted by mike van dyk on November 20, 2009 at 00:10:03:

In my first post I mentioned the article in the Irish Times that highlighted exactly this - the link is below and I quote just a small section that makes the point that people working on low wage are worse off than similar families unemployed because of the various supplementary benefits that you are entitled to if you are 'unemployed' but not entitled to when you are 'employed'. This is not new - it's a well-known phenomenon.

'I call this group “the impoverished workers”. They have become the invisible victims of the recession, as they receive scant media attention. They are usually married couples with a number of children, and are either on a single industrial wage of €35,000 per annum or self-employed. A cursory examination of the facts shows that many in this group are financially worse-off than unemployed people on social welfare.'

• Budget must not ignore plight of the working poor