The proportion of low-wage earners among employees amounted to 17.2% in 2014 in the European Union (EU).

11. Points out that, while flexible working hours and part-time jobs make achieving a work-life balance easier, especially for women, they also imply lower salaries and therefore lower pensions in the future; emphasises that the vast majority of low salaries and almost all very low salaries are paid for part-time work and about 80% of the working poor are women;

B. whereas Bangladesh has become the second largest exporter of garments in the world after China, with the lowest garment wages, the textile sector providing for almost 80 % of the country’s exports, with the EU being its major export market, and whereas the production pressure in the international textile market, characterised by low costs and quick turnaround, make Bangladesh’s work force a particularly vulnerable target;

18. Notes with concern that the vast majority of low salaries, and almost all very low salaries, are for part-time work and that about 80 % of the working poor are women; points out that there is a need for concrete measures to combat precarious employment in the service sector, which particularly affects women, and therefore calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop strategies in order to combat precarious employment;

Improve the combined incentive effects of taxes and benefits, reduce high marginal effective tax rates in order to eliminate unemployment and poverty traps, cut the tax burden on low-paid labour, improve the administration of eligibility criteria for benefits whilst preserving an adequate level of social protection, and ensure the efficiency of job search assistance for benefit recipients (see also Employment Guideline 8).

Take active steps to improve the combined incentive effects of taxes and benefits, reduce high marginal effective tax rates in order to eliminate unemployment and poverty traps, cut the tax burden on (deletion) labour -including social contributions- and especially on low-paid labour, link tax benefits to job creation in particular for women, disabled and older workers, improve the administration of eligibility criteria for benefits whilst preserving an adequate level of social protection, and ensure the efficiency of job search assistance for benefit recipients (see also Employment Guideline 8).