Traditionally employment was the best instrument to fight against poverty
and social exclusion. This explains that the right to work had been included in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and in some constitutions. Right to
work has been interpreted as right to a job and a duty for all citizens. However, one of
the consequences of the economic crisis started in 2008 has been the precarization of
working conditions. In this context appears the phenomena of working poor, people
who have a job but they do not earn enough money to cover their basic needs. In this
chapter, the phenomenon of working poor will be studied from the perspective of
human rights and a new interpretation of the right to work will be proposed in the sense
that work is a wider concept than jobs. Some possible political responses to working
poverty will also be studied. The phenomenon of working poor is understood as
negation of the right to work and the human right to live with dignity
Keywords: Labour rights, Poverty, Right to work, Salaries, Working conditions,
Working poor.
