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Coronavirus, a million new poor in Italy since the start of the pandemic
“In particular, the weight of families with minors, women, young people, Italian households and people of working age increases, while the great marginalization decreases. We see, therefore, the hypothesis of a new phase of “normalization” of poverty. “As happened after the financial shock of 2008. However, researchers from the Caritas think tank write” what makes the difference, compared to 12 years ago, it is the starting point: in pre-pandemic Italy, the number of absolute poor is double compared to 2007, on the eve of the collapse of The Lehman Brothers. “Overall, the use of diocesan Caritas increased by 12 % in 2020 compared to 2019, therefore, it was pre-pandemic.
Beyond the data, however, the most interesting part of the Caritas 2020 report is the identikit of poverty. The number of women who asked for help from May to September, immediately after the closure, was 54.4% compared to 50.5% in 2019. The number of young people between 18 and 34 years old has increased from 20% to 22.7 %, Italians are now 52% of the poor, up from 47.9% in 2019, so they have outnumbered foreigners. The number of impoverished families with dependent relatives, elderly and sick parents, went from 52.3% in 2019 to 58.3% in recent months. Job loss is one of the main reasons for the drop in income. Many small traders and freelancers, for example. With regard to this front, the diocesan Caritas has provided specific financial support, in 136 dioceses dedicated funds have been activated, useful to support the most urgent expenses (rent of buildings, mortgage payments, public services, useful purchases to restart activity ). In total, 2,073 small traders and freelancers were accompanied at this time ”. But in total, between April and June, Caritas assisted 450,000 people, of which one in two had never been to the listening centers before.
A terrifying scenario. Caritas offers a slice of Italian society that certainly indicates the trend, but, as the report also says, there is a disadvantaged part of the world that remains outside of this data. Regarding the measures taken by the Government to face the crisis, in the months of June and July 2020, the Rem was the most requested measure (26.3%), but the number of applications accepted was lower than the number of applications accepted for the bonus for domestic workers (61.9%), the subsidy for seasonal workers (58.3%) and the bonus for flexible workers (53.8%). It is too difficult to submit the “Rem” applications and in fact the number of those accepted, we read in the report, increases for those who have been helped to fill them out by the listening center volunteers.
Because solidarity exists. And if many families managed to avoid the collapse, it was thanks to 196 thousand meals in the dining rooms, diocesan funds that helped 92 thousand individual households, the 418 thousand who were given masks and sanitizing kits distributed by 62 thousand volunteers. A powerful and efficient machine. Unfortunately, however, the second phase of the pandemic has already begun and, therefore, the risk of new economic emergencies.
Playing now ….
