Most researchers of the working poor issue are focused on the causes of the working poor chronic nature. The paper aims to contribute to this issue by investigating the root causes and identifying the main mechanisms for working people falling into the poverty trap. The paper analyzes both well-known and poorly researched micro-mechanisms of the poverty trap (financial, behavioral, property and institutional) formed in the labor market. The practical significance of the paper lies in the possibility of employing the results obtained to develop new measures of social policy to lift people out of poverty. The theoretical significance of the study is seen by the authors in the development of the concept of the working poor trap through the increment of scientific knowledge about the institutional barriers to the exit from poverty of working individuals in emerging markets.

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