According to a current survey by the SORA Institute on behalf of the socially liberal Momentum Institute, nine out of ten unemployed people surveyed with a monthly income of less than EUR 1,200 are well below the poverty line (in 2021 it was EUR 1,328 for a one-person household). 97 percent have had to get by on less than 1,400 euros net a month since they lost their jobs, according to the representative survey of 1,214 unemployed people.
Financially, it is particularly hard for those people who already had a low income before they became unemployed: 63 percent of the unemployed surveyed earned less than 1,400 euros net per month in their last job. The low replacement rate of unemployment benefits (55 percent of previous net income) is a problem, especially for people with poorly paid jobs, said momentum director Barbara Blaha in a statement to the APA.
Poor despite a job
The inequalities between men and women are also evident in unemployment benefits. According to the SORA survey, 52 percent of women without children receive unemployment benefits of a maximum of 800 euros per month. For men without a child, it is only 30 percent. The difference is even clearer with parents: while 55 percent of all mothers receive a maximum of 800 euros, it is only 14 percent for fathers.
According to Momentum, the survey also indicates that unemployment benefits fail in many cases to secure their livelihood: three out of four unemployed people surveyed have to resort to other strategies to secure their livelihood. More than half of all unemployed (58 percent) need their own savings in addition to unemployment benefits, if they exist. Others are dependent on casual work. A quarter of all unemployed have to ask friends or family members for money. Blaha would see an increase in unemployment benefits to at least 70 percent net replacement rate as an “essential contribution to livelihood security”.
The causes of the risk of poverty can be found in some cases even before unemployment. In some industries the wages are so low that the employees are already considered to be at risk of poverty. According to the survey, employees in the production and service sectors are particularly affected.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
