This bulletin examines the employment problems of workers in relation to their family and household economic status, as measured by their family income and poverty-nonpoverty status. The bulletin is based largely on data from the March 1982 Current Population Survey of the Bureau of the Census that relates to the year 1981. For each of the three problems defined (low earnings among year-round full-time workers, unemployment, and involuntary parttime employment), poverty was found to be related to the problems but was not synonymous. Persons experiencing employment problems who were in families or households with additional earners usually did not fall into poverty, while those who were the sole providers for themselves and others more often did. Employment problems affecting Black or Hispanic workers were more likely to result in poverty than for White workers. The linkage between employment problems and poverty-level incomes tightened between 1979 and 1981. The percentage of persons with an employment problem increased during the period. By 1981, 26.5 percent of those with low earnings, 19.1 percent of those with unemployment, and 16.7 percent of those with involuntary part-time work during the year were living in families or households with incomes below the poverty level. When those experiencing more than one problem during the year (7.3 million) were taken into consideration, 35 million workers were affected by employment problems. About 6.7 million of these persons lived in families or households with incomes below the poverty level. Using a longitudinal subsample to examine the movements into and out of poverty for those in the labor force at some time in 1980-81, analysis of the data showed that for many workers, poverty was not a permanent or chronic problem. (KC)