In Catalonia we earn more, but we don't live better
As every year, the Living Conditions Survey (CVD), a study that gives us a fairly accurate picture of how people live in Catalonia and the rest of the State. The initial picture seems pretty good. Poverty continues to decline in Catalonia, as it has since 2020. Today, 17% of the Catalan population lives below the poverty line, which means earning less than 1,000 euros per month. In Spain, this rate has been stagnant for three years.
And not only that. We are also an increasingly egalitarian society. We measure this with the Gini coefficient, which the closer it is to 0, the more equal income it indicates. Right now, in Catalonia, it has a value of 29, after having continued to fall since the outbreak of the pandemic. We are more egalitarian, in fact, than the European average and neighbouring countries, such as France and Portugal.
With an unemployment rate that we have not seen since just before the start of the financial crisis in 2008 and the implementation of social protection measures such as ERTO during covid, the creation of the minimum vital income (IMV) or increases in the minimum interprofessional wage (SMI), it seems that the data in Catalonia show us that the economic recovery has been accompanied by greater social prosperity. This is good and not so usual. But not all the indicators are so hopeful.
Firstly, we have the situation of almost 380,000 children and adolescents in Catalonia, who live below the poverty line. Child poverty is 28%, ten points above the total Catalan population. And what is more worrying is that, unlike what happens with adults, child poverty is growing. Solutions are not coming. Last year, a new law was approved the Strategy to Combat Child Poverty, which was left up in the air with the elections and the change of government. And Barcelona is also working on the design of its strategy. But the challenge remains pending, and there is still much to do. To begin with, understanding why the available aid does not reach the homes of the children who need it most.
Secondly, there are indicators that show us not how much people earn, but how they live. In particular, whether people in our country can make ends meet, replace appliances when they break down or cope with unexpected expenses. And here we see that the population living with severe material and social deprivation has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, and the figure has stagnated at around 9% of the Catalan population (slightly above the rate for Spain). It is very expensive to live in Catalonia. And proposals such as those presented by Junts, of a minimum wage by region, come to reflect this reality that is shown by the Survey of Living Conditions. This is, then, the contradictory panorama of the economy of Catalan families. Despite earning more, and having less monetary poverty, we do not live better. It is of little use to have fuller pockets if we cannot fill the fridge more.
