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3.Conversion strategies to conquer labor market positions 55
Appendice 201
Appendix A 201References 207
Summary in Dutch 226Index 233 9
List of tables
PrefaceThis manuscript is about poverty in the Netherlands during the late 1990s. I made use of the "Landscapes of Poverty"-project database (1997)(1998)(1999) . Despite the fact that the economy increased most significantly during the second half of the 1990s, (when the information and communication technology boosted industrial sectors, the state introduced new labor market policies, so that more jobs became available) the number of the long-term poor did not change (SCP, 2001; p. 40). In spite of this, these conditions did not result in fewer people in poverty (SCP, 2001; p. 46): in 1990 14,8% and 14,3% of the households were considered poor (De Beer, 2000; p. 210-2). These numbers confirm the impression that there is a stable population of socially and economically excluded people.Dutch social scientists -interested in persistent poverty -asked how this could happen while the economy was growing (cf. Engbersen, 1997). This led to a large-scale research project on poverty. This undertaking, the "Landscapes of Poverty"-project (1997Poverty"-project ( -1999 was funded by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment (SZW), and aimed at describing and explaining the situation of people in poverty -those who did not (start to) profit from the boosting economy (the long-term unemployed, single parents, the elderly, and migrants). This project explored the life-world of people in poverty, demonstrating and describing the daily struggles of people in poverty. The incidence of poverty was already described in other reports; for example, the Annual Poverty Monitors contain 12 poverty statistics. The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) writes these reports, reporting on the number of people in poverty, poverty trends, spells, and dynamics, poverty measurement, and spatial distribution of poverty (cf. SCP, 1997SCP, , 1998SCP, , 1999SCP, , 2000SCP, , 2001SCP, , 2003SCP, , 2005. The "Landscapes of Poverty"-project aimed, instead, at collecting the personal stories behind these numbers to complement the existing statistical research with qualitative observations. This research proceeds from poverty definitions used by the SCP and the CBS (Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics). Commonly, two income definitions are used in the Netherlands. The first definition is the social policy minimum, which is based on the statutory minimum income as adopted by the government in its social legislation (SCP, 2004; 9-10). Because the social policy minimum is 5% more than the statutory minimum ...