Why poverty has become the scourge of those in work | Larry Elliott

Zero-hours contracts and under-employment have slowed UK pay rises while housing is too dear for the low paid

Turn the clock back to the mid-1990s. The UK economy is on the mend after its second deep recession in a decade but the scars are deep. Britain has an unemployment problem and a poverty problem. What's more, the two are linked because the majority of poor people live in workless households.

Times have changed. The percentage of people in work is now higher than it has ever been and unemployment, using the internationally agreed yardstick, is below 4% and at its lowest since the mid-1970s.

Related: Inequality makes climate change much harder to tackle | Larry Elliott

How many people are affected by poverty in the UK?

Related: UK inequality 'among worst of developed countries'