Applications for Citizenship Income are collapsing: down by 65% ​​after checks

«The INPS communicates that the applications for the basic income have collapsed, the Right has succeeded in frightening the Italians. Now, however, the Government must tell us how it will deal with the issue of the country’s impoverishment».
This was stated by Emiliano Fossi, deputy of the Democratic Party and member of the Labor commission of the Chamber, in the light of the data provided by the national social security institute, according to which the families who received the check in February decreased to one million, reaching the lowest level since October 2020. Spending in February was 576.3 million, down from 657.8 in January. «According to what emerges from the INPS Observatory tables – says Fossi – the applications received in the first two months recorded a drastic drop of 65.23%. The subsidy is mainly disbursed in the South where 67% of the families benefiting from the measure reside. The government’s tightening scares people but the poverty issue remains, indeed it is exacerbated. Already last December, Bank of Italy had warned that the stop on income would create 1 million more poor people». «Despite some critical issues – he continues – the basic income has proved to be extremely useful for achieving an improvement in welfare, for limiting the negative effects of the pandemic by allowing the most fragile families to bear the drop in income. But the utility has also extended due to the recent inflationary shock that has hit the country, allowing it to hold the purchasing power of citizens in such a critical moment. Limiting access to basic income can only be useful if the measure is improved and made more effective, but it is still necessary to create jobs otherwise there will only be many more poor people. And the increase in poverty has a knock-on effect on the whole economy».
DATA REGION BY REGION