the argument may be less applicable for rural areas in central asia in all four countries for which we have data the working poor make up a significant share of the total poor although children in families with working parents are usually better off especially if the parent is highly educated the share of the working poor remains significant due to low wages in many sectors especially in agriculture and the public sector the salaries are not sufficient to lift families out of poverty baschieri and falkingham in uzbekistan per cent of the poor are either working in the public sector are lowpaid employees or selfemployed unicef a in kyrgyzstan per cent of the poor are living in a household where the head is employed world bank forthcoming