Data on the impoverishment of Catalans worsens statistic after statistic, with women, children, and immigrants falling deepest into the pit of social vulnerability. The latest demonstration that macroeconomic recovery has not reached people's pockets comes from the recent report published by ECAS (Catalan Entities for Social Action), which highlights that the social exclusion rate is worsening and now affects nearly one in four people, far above the European average.

Ending the "culture of dependency" and "rewarding a culture of hard work" is one of the proposals in Junts' plan to rebuild the middle class, which it believes is on the verge of disappearing. The party proposed the special plenary session that began this Tuesday, where it outlined a complete overhaul of the current subsidy model, reformulating and significantly limiting the guaranteed minimum income, which was approved in July 2017 by the government led by Carles Puigdemont and Oriol Junqueras. This also indirectly represents an amendment to the Spanish minimum living income model. Junts members demand that a "culture of work" prevail in the definition of public policies and, therefore, call for a "reorganization of the system of aid and subsidies." The way to do this is to directly link the guaranteed minimum income to labor market activation, that is, to job seeking. "Benefits for people capable of working should be temporary and linked to training and effective job placement," they emphasize in their proposals. In this regard, they advocate "strengthening active employment policies connected to the productive sector so that aid becomes an instrument of autonomy and not dependency." Thus, coordination between the Catalan Public Employment Service (SOC) and the guaranteed minimum income benefit would become an absolute necessity. This, according to Junts sources, is a "complete change" to move from benefits for barely surviving to a labor-focused approach aimed at guiding people towards "decent work." Junts' idea is that unconditional guaranteed minimum income benefits should be exclusively for people unable to work, such as those with disabilities, while the vast majority should have a work-oriented approach. This proposal is reminiscent of unemployment benefits received when one is entitled to unemployment benefits, although these are the exclusive responsibility of the State.