Poverty, work and Basic Income

In the latest INSOCAT Report of ECAS (Entitats Catalanes d'Acció Social) number 17, entitled Chronology of poverty and growth of precariousness and which makes a retrospective of the social situation of the last decade in Catalonia, the increase was highlighted of the poverty rate in the last 10 years: from 22.7% in 2009 to 24.4% in 2023, figures higher than the European Union average . An accumulation of crises since 2008 has had an increasingly severe impact on the population, to which is added a lack of comprehensive and long-range vision policies to reduce poverty and social inequalities .

Likewise, the unemployment rate is high, despite the decline experienced, and the economic insecurity of the working class is great. The precariousness of jobs has increased and wages have fallen, the standard of living continues to rise in the basics and housing increasingly seems more like a luxury than a right. Paid work no longer serves to sustain life economically and, in fact, the percentage of poor workers keeps growing.

If we add the gender perspective , women also suffer from a significant wage gap -26% on average-, more partial hiring and a higher unemployment rate. To all this we must add the burdens of unpaid work that women assume in the field of care , the real lack of co-responsibility and the lack of measures for said conciliation which leads to a poverty of time much greater than the rest of the population.

In this context, we are also witnessing the destruction of jobs due to relocation , replacing them with automation , and a new stage is opening with artificial intelligence . We talked about all this with Marta Curull this week, in the third session of the training cycle on the RBU , organized by ECAS. Faced with this situation, how can we guarantee decent living conditions? How can we end high poverty rates?

From ECAS we think that the Universal Basic Income (RBU) is an important solution to value. So far, conditional aid has not led to an improvement in the situation or meant a brake on situations of risk of poverty, as we warned in the INSOCAT 16 report, The internal fractures of the income guarantee system. Proposals for improvement , and the claim of full employment in this current social and economic configuration would not be realistic, although desirable. In any case, the sum of different factors is necessary to improve the living conditions of the popular classes and a firm change of perspective in social policies is needed .

The RBU is the recognition of the value of life and the construction of economic freedom . An income for everyone that guarantees the basics and that, clearly and as shown by different pilot plans around the world, improves emotional well-being and does not discourage work . Contrary to this clichéd position, the RBU would increase bargaining power and improve working conditions. An RBU empowers because it would provide economic security ; an important part of mental health problems , such as anxiety or depression, usually come from concerns in daily survival.

Obviously changes are needed to make this possible. A change of perspective is needed in social and economic policies that favor a change in the productive model and the value of work, that strengthens community networks and reviews the current maze of conditional grants that stigmatize the people who receive them. The RBU cannot come alone and, certainly, it is not the only measure, since it must be accompanied by other mechanisms in the fight against inequalities . But it marks a process of change in the great challenge of ending poverty and supposes a basis that can sustain the way to deal with it. The basis for a more equitable society.