Poverty: the emergence of new forms of vulnerability, from impoverished workers to the so-called “Grey Poor”

BOLOGNA – The economic crisis triggered by the pandemic and then fueled by other national and planetary events has aggravated the socio-economic conditions in Italy, generating new poverty and expanding the area of ​​vulnerability. Compared to 2019, the economic situation of families worsened in 44% of cases, unchanged in 48%, while only 8% declared an improvement. This is what emerges from the signed Report Up Daya company among the leaders on the Italian market for companies and individuals, e Tecnè, among the leading political, social and economic research institutes. Above all, the research highlighted how the economic crisis has accelerated the spread of new forms of poverty, with profiles coming from different social classes, but sharing conditions of fragility. These include:

1) – The “working poor”, who now account for almost 12% of the employed, i.e. those who have a job, which unfortunately no longer guarantees a sufficient income for a life without hardship: in dependent work, the incidence of poverty between 2007 and 2021 is increased from 7 to 10%; in working-class families from 11 to 17% and in self-employed workers from 4 to 8%. They represent a significant phenomenon from an economic and social point of view because they express a condition that is not rooted in the absence of work but in work itself, which is no longer able to guarantee a sufficient income for a life without hardship.

2) – The “intermittent poor”: those who experience a condition of occasional poverty, determined by negative conditions, even temporary, such as illness or unexpected expenses: this is 8% of families, considered “almost poor” with a monthly spending capacity for 3 people which is just above the poverty line, estimated at around 1,400 euros.

3) – The “poor greys”. The nucleuses that live in the balance between normality and misery, the so-called “poor greys”, plunged into the world of need until the loss of well-being, with a monthly expenditure ranging between approximately 1,600 and 2,000 euros, for 3 people.

Situation indicators. More than any word, the numbers of Sole Substitute Declarations for calculation purposes ISEE, an indicator of the equivalent economic situation and obtaining subsidized social benefits, describe a general malaise in the country: between 2016 and 2021, the families that applied increased by 61% from 5.3 to 8.5 million, doubling only in the last year. In the last year, then, the weight of inflation has pushed millions of individuals below the water line. With an inflation rate between 12 and 14%, 35% of households (27 million individuals) experience some form of hardship, ranging from absolute poverty to mild vulnerability. A condition that forces the most exposed families to make ends meet with complex cost containment strategies. 86% of vulnerable households cut consumption of clothing, 78% reduced consumption of domestic utilities, 72% saved on food costs and 54% gave up on medical visits.

The investigation area. The survey was carried out between May and October 2022, carrying out 3,011 interviews with a sample of adults residing in Italy, with an oversampling of social service managers and/or operators (total interviews: 203), beneficiaries of social spending vouchers (total interviews: 407) and beneficiaries of citizenship income/pension (total interviews: 401). For the analyzes and context estimates, reference was made to the ISTAT, MEF and INPS databases.

Support measures. To deal with this extraordinary situation, “social spending vouchers” and “citizenship income” were introduced. These are two different measures, alternative and complementary. The former, financed with the Sostegni bis Decree starting from the pandemic crisis, are disbursed by the Municipalities to grant one-off aid to vulnerable families in difficulty for the purchase of food, medicines and basic necessities; the second, present since 2019, is instead mainly designed for unemployed individuals and is a continuous measure over time. In the photograph taken by the survey, the people involved in the benefits of the citizen’s income measure, in September 2022, are around 2.5 million, for an average monthly allowance of 551 euros; on the other hand, the beneficiaries of the social spending voucher were 1.9 million for each individual disbursement financed from 2021 to 2022 for an average “one-off” amount of 250 euros.

Citizenship Income. Furthermore, the research shows that the citizen’s income is complementary to the employment rate, with a higher incidence in the South than in the Centre-North and above all for the benefit of the group of individuals below the poverty line; social spending vouchers, on the other hand, are characterized by greater homogeneity throughout the country and a higher positive relationship with employment, mainly in support of vulnerable families and those in intermittent poverty. This type of socio-economic configuration can also be found in the grounding of the two instruments: in fact, while social spending vouchers are mainly used to purchase food and basic needs, the citizen’s income acts on a wider range and is less directed towards satisfying a specific need.

A high approval rating. The two measures were then compared, in order to understand the impacts and judgments expressed by public opinion, by the beneficiaries of spending vouchers, the citizen’s income and by social services managers: among the latter, the evaluation of the citizen’s income is 63% but social spending vouchers are considered positively by 100% of sector employees. In general, BSSs garner a higher level of approval both in public opinion as a whole and among individual segments. In fact, like a scalpel, social spending vouchers are a targeted and precise tool for their use. Furthermore, by converting directly into consumption they are able to stimulate the market with better performance than other social safety nets. A measure to be evaluated also in the context of the proposals for the management of the new 2023 availability, allocated by the Government.

A support for families and for the real economy. “From the Report – says Mariacristina Bertolini, general manager and vice president of Up Day – it can be seen that tools such as social spending vouchers are an important support for the most vulnerable families and for the real economy, in the current framework of economic uncertainty. We hope that this support for families will continue over time, even after strictly emergency periods. How Up Day – concluded Bertolini – with research like this one, we want to stimulate reflection on institutions and stakeholders in the sector, with the common final goal of promoting society as a whole”.