8.2% of EU workers are at risk of poverty

 

Key Figures on European living conditions 2025 edition, published in September, provides a comprehensive overview of how Europeans live today. This publication covers income distribution and inequality to households, work intensity and childcare, and health, disability, and discrimination. Today, we highlight data on people who work but are at risk of poverty. 

Risk of poverty does not only affect people living in households with low work intensity or people without employment. In 2024, 8.2% of people aged 18 or over who declared to be at work (employed or self-employed) in the EU were at risk of poverty. This share was notably lower for women (7.3%) than for men (9.0%). 

Among the EU countries, the highest rate of people who were in-work and at risk of poverty was 13.4% in Luxembourg. By contrast, the lowest rate was 2.8% in Finland. 

In 22 EU countries, the in-work at-risk-of-poverty rate was higher for men than for women, with the largest gender difference in Romania (8.1 percentage points). In Germany, the rates were the same for men and women, while in Czechia, Latvia, Cyprus, and Luxembourg, the rates were higher for women than for men.

Source dataset: ilc_iw01

The Key Figures on European living conditions publication offers essential data on the EU and allows you to compare developments across EU and EFTA countries. For a more detailed view of the EU’s performance in other fields, explore other Key Figures publications.

 The internal watchdog for the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency is being removed from his role, four people familiar with the matter said, at a time when the housing regulator is playing a role in President Donald Trump's targeting of perceived political enemies.

The ouster of Joe Allen, FHFA's acting inspector general, follows the agency's director, Bill Pulte, becoming an outspoken voice in support of the Trump administration. Across the government, the Trump administration has so far fired or reassigned close to two dozen agency watchdogs, who police waste, fraud, and abuse. It has also defunded the group that supervises those offices.

The FHFA did not immediately respond to emails and a call seeking comment. The four people spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to discuss internal moves at the agency.

Created after the 2008 financial crisis, the FHFA is typically a low-profile regulatory office, but Pulte has launched a new hotline targeting mortgage fraud and made public criminal referrals against a series of Trump foes, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, as well as Federal Reserve Board Governor Lisa Cook and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

Lindsey Halligan, the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who was hand-picked for the job by Trump, subsequently indicted James after her predecessor declined to do so, citing a lack of evidence.

Allen received notice of his termination from the White House after he made efforts to provide key information to prosecutors in that office, according to four sources. The information he turned over was constitutionally required, two of them said, while a third described it as being potentially relevant in discovery.

His ouster also came about as he was preparing to send a letter to Congress notifying lawmakers that the FHFA was not cooperating with the inspector general's office, three of the sources said. These individuals said the FHFA director would typically have been notified of such a letter. Reuters was unable to independently determine whether Pulte was informed.

James has pleaded not guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of lying to a financial institution. Her legal team is seeking to have the case dismissed, claiming Halligan's appointment was unlawful and the prosecution is vindictive.

Trump previously publicly called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to bring charges against James, along with several of his other political foes.

Pulte has circumvented the agency's Office of Inspector General in pursuing those three cases, Reuters previously reported.

Allen had reported to work on Monday, according to the sources.

He also served as chief counsel of the FHFA's inspector general's office. It was not immediately clear whether he was continuing in that latter role, three of the people said.

Allen could not be reached for comment.

He became FHFA's acting inspector general in April 2025, according to an archived page of the agency's website.

On Monday, the website for the FHFA's Office of Inspector General listed the position as "currently vacant". It was unclear when the website was updated.

The most recent snapshot available via the Internet Archive was from late September and listed Allen as acting inspector general.

In response to news of Allen's removal, Democratic U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said, "Director Pulte has some answering to do."

Before joining FHFA's inspector general's office, Allen was a 40-year veteran at the Justice Department, where he held various roles from a federal prosecutor to senior legal positions with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.

James, a Democrat who last year secured a $450 million fraud judgment against Trump, last month pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of allegedly lying on mortgage documents after Pulte suggested the Justice Department investigate her.

Pulte's leadership at FHFA and over the government-sponsored entities it oversees has been tumultuous. Just last week, he said he had fired dozens of staff at Fannie Mae.

Australia will offer at least three hours of free solar power every day to households, including those without solar panels, under an energy-saving programme that is expected to go live in 2026, energy minister Chris Bowen said on Tuesday.

The Solar Sharer programme will begin in the states of New South Wales and South Australia, as well as southeast Queensland, before it is expanded elsewhere.

Users will get free solar power when the generation capacity is highest in the middle of the day.

"People who can move electricity use into the zero-cost power period will benefit directly, whether they have solar panels or not, and whether they own or rent, and the more people take up the offer and move their use, the greater the system benefits that lower costs for all electricity users will be," Bowen said.

The share prices of two of Australia’s largest electricity suppliers, AGL and Origin Energy, fell 3% by late afternoon.    

About four million households in Australia have rooftop solar panels on their homes ,and peak-time sunny afternoons can supply so much power that electricity prices swing into the negative, while peak demand is often several hours later, putting strain on the grid.

Households, including apartment dwellers, will be able to access the programme even without their own solar panels.

challenging’ PSLE question

In 2022, Bowen set a target of 82% renewable electricity by 2030 in addition to the legislated target of a 43% reduction in emissions over the levels in 2005.

Customers who choose the deal must have a smart meter and will only benefit if they shift their peak usage to the middle of day and run appliances and charge vehicles then. 

The government shutdown is poised to become the longest ever this week as the impasse between Democrats and Republicans has dragged into a new month. Millions of people stand to lose food aid benefits, health care subsidies are set to expire, and there are few real talks between the parties over how to end it.

President Donald Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday that he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats who are demanding negotiations to extend the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies. Echoing congressional Republicans, the president said on CBS’ “60 Minutes” he’ll negotiate only when the government is reopened.

Trump said Democrats “have lost their way” and predicted they’ll capitulate to Republicans.

“I think they have to,” Trump said. “And if they don’t vote, it’s their problem.”

Trump’s comments signal the shutdown could drag on for some time as federal workers, including air traffic controllers, are set to miss additional paychecks, and there’s uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who receive federal food aid will be able to access the assistance. Senate Democrats have voted 13 times against reopening the government, insisting they need Trump and Republicans to negotiate with them first.

The president also reiterated his pleas to Republican leaders to change Senate rules and scrap the filibuster. Senate Republicans have repeatedly rejected that idea since Trump’s first term, arguing the rule requiring 60 votes to overcome any objections in the Senate is vital to the institution and has allowed them to stop Democratic policies when they’re in the minority.

Trump said that’s true, but “we’re here right now.”

“Republicans have to get tougher,” Trump told CBS. “If we end the filibuster, we can do exactly what we want.”

With the two parties at a standstill, the shutdown, now in its 34th day and approaching its sixth week, appears likely to become the longest in history. The previous record was set in 2019, when Trump demanded Congress give him money for a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

A potentially decisive week

Trump’s push on the filibuster could prove a distraction for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Republican senators who’ve opted instead to stay the course as the consequences of the shutdown become more acute.

Republicans are hoping at least some Democrats will eventually switch their votes as moderates have been in weekslong talks with rank-and-file Republicans about potential compromises that could guarantee votes on health care in exchange for reopening the government. Republicans need five additional Democrats to pass their bill.

Thune told reporters Monday that he was “optimistic” that the Senate could vote to reopen the government by the end of the week.

But he also added, “If we don’t start seeing some progress or some evidence of that by at least the middle of this week, it’s hard to see how we would finish anything by the end of the week.”

Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, there’s a group of people talking about ”a path to fix the health care debacle” and a commitment from Republicans not to fire more federal workers. But it’s unclear if those talks could produce a meaningful compromise.

Far apart on health care subsidies

Trump said in the “60 Minutes” interview that the Affordable Care Act — often known as Obamacare because it was signed and championed by then-President Barack Obama — is “terrible” and if the Democrats vote to reopen the government, “we will work on fixing the bad health care that we have right now.”

Democrats feel differently, arguing that the marketplaces set up by the ACA are working as record numbers of Americans have signed up for the coverage. But they want to extend subsidies first enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic, so premiums won’t go up for millions of people on Jan. 1.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said last week that “we want to sit down with Thune, with (House Speaker Mike) Johnson, with Trump, and negotiate a way to address this horrible health care crisis.”

No appetite for bipartisanship

As Democrats have pushed Trump and Republicans to negotiate, Trump has shown little interest in doing so. He called for an end to the Senate filibuster after a trip to Asia while the government was shut down.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that the president has spoken directly to Thune and Johnson about the filibuster. But a spokesman for Thune said Friday that his position hasn’t changed, and Johnson said Sunday that he believes the filibuster has traditionally been a “safeguard” from far-left policies.

Trump said on “60 Minutes” that he likes Thune but “I disagree with him on this point.”

The president has spent much of the shutdown mocking Democrats, posting videos of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries in a Mexican sombrero. The White House website is now featuring a satirical “MySpace” page for Democrats, a parody based on the social media site that was popular in the early 2000s. “We just love playing politics with people’s livelihoods,” the page reads.

Democrats have repeatedly said that they need Trump to get serious and weigh in. Virginia Sen. Mark Warner said that he hopes the shutdown could end “this week” because Trump is back in Washington.

Republicans “can’t move on anything without a Trump sign off,” Warner said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

Record-breaking shutdown

The 35-day shutdown that lasted from December 2018 to January 2019 ended when Trump retreated from his demands over a border wall. That came amid intensifying delays at the nation’s airports and multiple missed paydays for hundreds of thousands of federal workers.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on ABC’s “This Week” that there have already been delays at several airports, and it’s only going to get worse.”

Many of the workers are “confronted with a decision,” he said. “Do I put food on my kids’ table, do I put gas in the car, do I pay my rent, or do I go to work and not get paid?”

As flight delays around the country increased, New York City’s emergency management department posted on Sunday that Newark Airport was under a ground delay because of “staffing shortages in the control tower” and that they were limiting arrivals to the airport.

“The average delay is about 2 hours, and some flights are more than 3 hours late,” the account posted.

SNAP crisis

Also in the crossfire are the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits. The Department of Agriculture planned to withhold $8 billion needed for payments to the food program starting on Saturday until two federal judges ordered the administration to fund it.

The Trump administration indicated in court on Monday that it will only partially fund SNAP this month by using a $4.65 billion emergency fund. That left the program in uncertainty with no clear indication of how much beneficiaries will receive or when their cards will be loaded to buy groceries.

House Democratic leader Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused Trump and Republicans of attempting to “weaponize hunger.” He said that the administration has managed to find ways for funding other priorities during the shutdown, but is slow-walking in pushing out SNAP benefits despite the court orders.

“But somehow they can’t find money to make sure that Americans don’t go hungry,” Jeffries said in an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.”