SILVIA DALLA ROSA

EQUIPE EUROPA GIOVANI

POVERTY IN ITALY

• A GENERAL OVERVIEW• PROBLEMS• POLICIES• POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

• Relative Poverty: This is when income is less than the average income, by a certain amount.

• Absolute Poverty: is Income below a certain level necessary to maintain minimum standards of living.

Relative poverty by geographical distribution: 2006-2009 (%)

Absolute poverty by geographical distribution: 2006-2009 (%)

SOME FACTS:

• Around 7.5 million Italians, or 13% of the population, are living below the poverty line on less than 600 euros a month.

• Istat said a total of 11.1% of families were living below the poverty line while 4.2% were hovering just above. A further 3.7% were considered 'at risk', while 81% could be classified as not poor.

• Italy's poverty line states at a monthly spending capacity of 600 euros for a single person, 1,607 for a family of four people and 2,637 for a family of six or more.

• Imbalance between the North and the South of Italy, both in terms of social assistance and expenditure intervention.

• More intervention in those regions where there is less poverty.

Expenditure for social interventions per capita in the Italian regions 2004-2005 (Istat)

• Despite being a wealthy country, Italy suffers from serious inequality in the distribution of wealth and resources.

• The gap between the rich north and the impoverished south continues to increase, as does the depth of poverty itself.

PROBLEMS:

• People in poverty are socially excluded, which is a failure in a rich society such as the European

• Political and decisional weakness (needy people are better driven by corporations and interest groups with political purposes) – feeling of guilt

• No system of effective interventions• Transformation of the labor market into a flexible but more

precarious system• Migration from the South to the North as in the past• Problem of “Mezzogiorno” social exclusion especially in

the poorest regions of the South

ITALIAN REALITY:

• In urban areas of the south, the younger generation finds it very difficult to obtain work and poverty drives a percentage of them into the arms of organized crime.

• Migration to the north or leaving Italy altogether still remain ways out for many.

• Young couples with 2 or more children who struggle to meet the high cost of living on low salaries find themselves caught in poverty.

COMPLEXITY:

• Unemployment as the most important cause of social exclusion, especially in the South

• Lack of social guarantees with the Government’s interventions of cutting funds for the social system, health system, education + economic crises and recession

• New federalist view [LEGA NORD (from the richer North) fiscal federalism] + excluding and xenophobic rise

Unemployment:

Source: Eurostat, Labor Force Survey

Youth unemployment

PRECARITY vs. STABILITY

• New generations suffer more from relative poverty than in the past (smaller wage, difficulties in buying a house and have a family + different retirement conditions)

• Unprotected workers, with no social assistance and less rights because of bad Government policies that do not guarantee equal opportunities

• Italian policy of labor flexibility has created a generation of poor and instable youth [no stable wage = no certainty for the future]

Average wages in European countries

ITALIAN POLICIES:

• Giving money better than lasting interventions (not a real solution)

• Abuse of the welfare state• No evaluation of the interventions

• Waste of money and resources• Lack of solutions and loss of hope by the needy

families

Social intervention (% of total expenditure)

The great majority of poor families do not live in extremes of squalor or deprivation.

Essential needs provided by the state include basic health care and education, clean water supplies, and housing.

Moreover, extensive family networks help those living in poverty to feel less isolated and are sometimes a source of financial help.

However, it is extremely difficult for families in poverty to improve their circumstances.

SOME SOLUTIONS:

• Promoting social mobility• Guaranteeing equal opportunities (intergenerational +

meritocratic system)• Fighting against waste and bad allocation of funds• Guaranteeing consumption as well as wages and the

balancing between the two (cost of life and quality of life)• Reducing unemployment, especially of the youth• Implementing policies of control of the prices and

management of the current economic crisis• Developing a common and effective European social policy

and also for immigration

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

GRACIASOBRIGADAS

Danke!

Grazie!dzięki

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