poverty also rose among the working population indeed not all of the poor are out of work as the poverty rate of among those in work demonstrates this can be explained by the significant number of lowpaid workers many of which work less than full time retirees by contrast saw their relative poverty levels decline as median incomes fell comparing different household compositions poverty rates are highest and have increased most among families with children with families that have more children being particularly affected by poverty the poverty line is of median disposable income in each year adjusted for household size