The low pay-no pay cycle: understanding recurrent poverty

How and why do people become trapped in a long-term cycle of low-paid jobs and unemployment? Little is known about people's repeated movements into and out of poverty over the course of their lives and, in particular, how this 'recurrent poverty' links to the low-pay, no-pay cycle and broader experiences of disadvantage. Based on detailed qualitative research in deprived neighbourhoods, the report: Examines the relationships between personal, family and labour market factors in explaining the low-pay, no-pay cycle; Documents experiences of everyday hardship and recurrent poverty amongst individuals with strong work motivation and repeated episodes in employment; and Outlines a series of policy measures to tackle the problems of the low-pay, no-pay cycle.