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11/1 Jurists want to stay in Oudemanhuispoort

8/2 Mayor’s portrait

8/2 Websites for social cohesion

7/2 Spreading tourism proceeds with difficulty

7/2 GroenLinks on districts: Be a man

6/2 Zuideramstel opens new office on Sabbath

5/2 The truth about integration

4/2 Wilders has little support on Amsterdam

3/2 Elite involved in neighbourhood

2/2 Johnnie Walker avoids taxes in Amsterdam

1/2 Rotterdam to tinker with district councils as well

31/1 Wooden rowing boats to disappear from Amstel

31/1 ZeeburgTV launched

27/1 Privacy activists to mess up loyalty card system

27/1 A few were still coughing, but that was an act

27/1 Chrisis in de Baarsjes

26/1 Youth have positive view of districts

24/1 Action groups call for Carmel and Jaffa boycott

24/1 PvdA members dismiss plan for districts

23/1 KLM takes on crisis with new uniform

23/1 District office not squatted

21/1 Merge districts

20/1 Closing squat bar Vrankrijk not necessary

20/1 Cleaners welcome new Schiphol director

18/1 Palestine at the Jewish Historical Museum

18/1 What is the right size for a district?

17/1 PvdA Oost against fewer districts

16/1 Committee: 7 districts by 2010

15/1 Soldiers may attend Afghanistan debate after all

15/1 Bait bike leads to arrest

14/1 Youth for Christ to republish vacancies

13/1 Paintings of the Zuidas

13/1 New Youth for Christ contoversy

11/1 Social cohesion initiative raises eyebrows

10/1 Fewer districts in 2010

10/1 Zuidas: People feel that we are losers

9/1 Fun on the ice - but not for all

9/1 Supermarket coupon fraud thwarted

9/1 I Amsterdam must remain exclusive

8/1 Use term Apartheid in every discussion

8/1 No city kiosk in Amsterdam yet

7/1 Snow

7/1 Fatima Elatik to run Zeeburg

7/1 Municipal managers to return to shop floor

4/1 Police: take photo of strange people

3/1 Gaza protest criticises politicians

1/1 Thousands to protest against attacks on Gaza

1/1 Mustapha Laboui leaves district council

2008 Archive

2007 Archive

2006 Archive

2005 Archive

Number of working poor rising

22 November 2007 - Within days after cleaners started their campaign for a living wage, the municipality has published a report indicating that the number of working poor is rising. Amsterdam is relatively successful at reaching these people to offer them income support.

The exact number of working poor is unknown. The Poverty Monitor published yesterday reveals that the number of poor households with ‘other sources of income’ - no social assistance and no old age pension - has risen from 17,390 in 2003 to 25,325 in 2006. A substantial number of them are thought to be employees and self-employed people.

Municipality spokesperson Arthur Zielhorst said that the exact cause of this growth is unknown, although it is likely that the number of part-time workers has grown, as well as the number of small business owners who sometimes even have an income below social assistance level.

Many municipalities have difficulties reaching the working poor to offer them income supplements, because they are unknown to the welfare agency. Amsterdam is quite successful at tracking low income residents by combining data from different registrations.

As a result, over 3,000 people who do not receive social assistance applied for affordable health insurance in 2006. Further, Amsterdam is the most successful city at reaching people who do not receive social assistance with its income supplement for the long-term poor.

Amsterdam hopes to reach another 2 to 3,000 low income households by adding the Tax Administration to the registrations it uses to reach low income households.

Even when people know of income supplements, they may be hesitant to apply. “My own neighbour is a small business owner who could hardly make ends meet. I really had to convince him to apply to the welfare agency”, Zielhorst said.

Zielhorst could not say whether Amsterdam would consider including living wage clauses in its contracts with subcontractors such as cleaning companies. In London and many American cities, this has been a successful means to reduce the number of working poor.

Poverty Monitor (in Dutch), Cleaners’ campaign, London living wage

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