While it is commonly agreed that having a job represents the best safeguard against poverty and exclusion, it is no guarantee. In 2007, 8% of Europe's working population were living under the poverty threshold.

Host Country : France

Place and date : Paris, 31.3. - 1.4.2011

Peer countries : Belgium - Cyprus - Estonia - Greece - Ireland - Lithuania - Netherlands - Portugal - Slovenia

Stakeholders : EAPN

In June 2009, France launched a new tool aimed at fighting in-work poverty - the active solidarity income or RSA (Revenu de Solidarité Active). The RSA acts as an income supplement for people in employment whose income falls below the acceptable threshold regarding their family situation. It has three goals: encouraging people to (re-)enter the labour market, reducing poverty by providing recipients with a decent income, and improving social support and occupational reintegration.

The aim of the Peer Review will be both to evaluate the French RSA and to enable participants to learn more about other Member States' experience as regards in-work poverty: what the main explanatory factors are considered to be, what mechanisms are used to monitor the phenomenon, what policies are in place to deal with it, how different actors are involved in finding and implementing solutions, and how policy results are evaluated. A particular emphasis will be placed on the issues of low-intensity work, social transfers and labour incentives.

Peer Review manager

Ms Ulrike Hiebl (ÖSB Consulting GmbH)