From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe poverty trapthe poverty trapa situation in which a poor person without a job cannot afford to take a low-paying job because they would lose the money they receive from the government → poverty
Examples from the Corpus
the poverty trap• This is the phenomenon generally known as the poverty trap.• This is likely to be particularly serious if either the poverty trap or the unemployment trap is encountered.• But they are caught in the poverty trap: they can not afford dams and irrigation systems.• It claimed 1.25 million people could be caught in the poverty trap.• Caught in the poverty trap, they are unable to make the savings necessary for business ventures.• There is no single point in the income scale where the poverty trap begins to operate.• Before 1988 the implicit tax rates associated with the poverty trap were also, in some cases, greater than 100%. 