Poverty in Europe | "Poor Europe" - Documentary on European unemployed and social exclusion (2017)

nearly one out of four eu citizens is poor or at risk of poverty we have still 119 million people at risk of poverty or social exclusion and this is unacceptable three groups are primarily affected poor children currently 25 million the most fundamental thing is that every child should have a hot meal and while some of us take it for granted that is not the case unemployed or uneducated adolescents and young adults 1 out of 6. [Music] working poor those who work yet don't earn enough contracts from support [Music] in 2010 the european union set combating poverty and social exclusion as a central aim of its ambitious europe 2020 strategy our general mission is growth jobs social fairness and democratic the objective reduce the number of poor people by 20 million by 2020 is that achievable if it isn't what are the consequences for poor people for europe [Music] the eu provides a clear definition of poverty anyone earning less than 60 percent of the national average is considered at risk of poverty how can it be that one in four eu citizens is poor are eu policies inadequate are the national states at fault or is the financial crisis to blame how much is this result in order to understand we decided to talk to concerned citizens and politicians in portugal ireland italy and brussels ireland was hit very hardly by the crisis with the house bubble let me say portugal was also very hardly hit and was also under an assistance program and italy has since a long time we can see that there are structural problems in italy and they also have huge unemployment uh specifically for young people it is disheartening so we wonder what does the battle against poverty look like in europe is there any way it can be fought consistently [Music] [Music] foreign italy one of the eu states most severely affected by the recent financial and economic crisis unemployment rose sharply in the past few years most recently it was at 11 even those who have a steady job are often barely able to make ends meet and the number of people living in poverty or at risk of poverty has been rising for years in 2015 it was 17 and a half million [Music] one in four italians um italy has one of the highest rates of young people living at risk of poverty because they have difficulties finding jobs and apprenticeships the young generation in the south is particularly affected in sicily the youth unemployment rate exceeds 57 percent which makes the statement italian labor minister giuliano poletti made at a press conference in winter of 2016 even more perplexing [Music] a day later paletti apologized he had been quoted out of context thus distorting what he had said he had intended to praise those who stay as he explains instead of observing this subject from a distance we meet a job-seeking young sicilian he still lives with his parents tom grady graduated high school two years ago and has been unemployed since his mother is the only one in the family with the job his father a social worker has been unemployed for two years his sister is also unemployed and one year ago she became a mother belong to italy's middle class which comprises three quarters of the population they have seen their standard of living diminished considerably because of falling wages and rising costs of living reflect the italian labor market on the one side older mostly public sector employees who like his mother are protected from layoffs and on the other side young people like him and his sister who simply can't find any work at all even though on average young italians are more educated than their parents youth unemployment reached almost 38 percent in 2016 which makes it seem hopeless for one in three graduates there are ideas of what has to change possibly italy still has a long way to go unlike germany for instance it has no consistent training system with apprenticeships vocational schools and craftsmen's in italy occupational expertise is often handed down within families which makes it even harder for tongue creating his mother works at the department of justice so there's no family business to join the eu is targeting youth unemployment in 2013 all member states committed to the youth guarantee the program is meant to ensure that every eu citizen under the age of 25 finds a job an apprenticeship or an internship within four months of graduation or becoming unemployed the european social fund allocated 8.4 billion euros to facilitate the structural reforms required by the program in italy practical implementation has proved especially complicated they had a huge youth unemployment but they did not even know who the young people are where they are and if you don't know them if you don't find them if they if you have so many needs as we call them people not in employment in education or in training and they are not registered in an employment service how can you guide them how can you support them how can you offer them services to attract them in the labor market so first thing you have to do is to make uh to make it happen that you have services available well functioning labor market services and that they reach young people in italia questions [Music] in 2014 italy launched garancia giovanni an italian program that is partially financed by eu funds it is supposed to motivate young unemployed people under 29 to register with the employment office and help them find a job an apprenticeship or at least an internship position internships are paid 500 euros per month and last half a year if a firm employs an intern it will receive a bonus if they go so far as to hire a young person they even get a four-figure tax reduction tancredi took part in galencia giovanni in the fall of 2015 and did an internship in a pet shop [Music] economics um existence it is especially in the first years of employment that young people learn the skills they will use throughout their lives to tackle the daily routine of question a year later he is still unemployed he only got his last paycheck nine months after the internship had ended was he the only one we look for other participants in the program and our search pays off on youtube the young man talks about his experience [Music] why weren't the young people paid on time we asked the city councilor in charge of work family and social policy [Music] eu funds that were provided specifically for the young people's salaries were spent otherwise and were then used up is this embezzlement or simply negligent budgetary management the italian minister of labor washes his hands of it the eu ties its payments to specific conditions but were they met in italy we want that the budget is spended on a result in a result-oriented way it's not just you use the money therefore so it's fine it's used for the right thing no no we want to see results we want indicators it must be measured uh it is taxpayers money so it must and it is a lot of money member states have to submit a report on their efforts to the eu twice a year if the eu is displeased with the results it can request changes did garancia giovanni utterly fail in sicily we at least were not able to come across a single young person in the province of caltenezetta who found a job those we didn't meet were angry statistically sicily has the highest number of young people participating in garencia giovanni yet it is here that the program appeared to be least successful because there simply are no jobs can a program that focuses solely on youth unemployment be the solution [Music] what sorts of changes would be necessary why are there no jobs in italy why is the italian economy one of the weakest in the whole eu it is jobs don't get created just like that especially in places with deficient infrastructure this highway is emblematic of [Music] most young people live in rural areas but despite low interest rates not much was done to create jobs now the city council even goes so far as to blame the young people for their frustration working in agriculture often means working in the family business and most young people don't even get a real salary which leaves them without any prospects without work many have no other option than to leave already decades ago thousands of italians had to flee their country to escape from hopelessness the situation is daunting two-thirds of young people under 34 still live with their parents most of them because they can't even afford to rent a room in a shared apartment many get financial support from their families tom crady doesn't even believe politicians will be able to bring change so he sticks up for himself now and tries to encourage others to do the same [Music] the situation could not be more muddled on one side there is the careless management of eu funds and on the other more than one in three young italians are unemployed yet reforms that could improve those circumstances for the younger generation seem beyond reach we travel on to portugal whose government unlike italy's responded to the crisis by taking drastic measures a resolute reform policy allowed the country to return to the financial market but it also set in motion a social crisis today 2.8 million portuguese live in poverty or at risk of poverty more than a quarter of the population one of the causes precarious working conditions um [Music] portugal has been in a talesman for years pressed by international competition portugal's lack of growth led to continuous increases in state company and private debt the lack of capital and a limited national financial market forced portugal to take on extensive international debt this financing model imploded in 2011 the country found itself at the brink of national bankruptcy military [Music] portugal had to ask for assistance from the troika of the eu commission european central bank and the international monetary fund emergency credits amounting to almost 80 billion euros were promised this assistance was bound to strict conditions the portuguese did everything to meet them right down to the very last one they curtailed public spending raise taxes privatize state enterprises but above all they lowered labor costs to do [Music] [Music] foreign for many in the workforce living conditions deteriorated considerably they lost their jobs and could no longer keep up with their debts the middle class was most affected in southern portugal we meet with the grada family paolo had a successful construction firm and his wife patricia also worked for the company but as the crisis got worse the large construction firms went bankrupt and paola's company was dependent on their contracts you know [Music] in the summer of 2015 the grottos were forced to admit defeat they were broke and had to shut down paula experienced this as a personal failure from which he has yet to recover he does not even want to talk to us about it built their house before the crisis but it isn't paid off yet and the installments leave them trembling every month when they burn firewood it's not for ambiance but to keep the house warm the family cannot afford any other kind of fuel from the outside the house seems in good shape what the neighbors don't see is the black mold that is spreading across the ceilings and walls the fireplace in the living room is not sufficient to eliminate the dampness the family's poverty is visible only when you take a closer look [Music] going to the movies and other activities became unaffordable a long time ago the grata family spends its free time on the sports field son alejandro is a passionate soccer player and it doesn't cost anything many portuguese families are in the same boat as the garadas they belong to a middle class that the crisis has wiped out these people can no longer afford their old lifestyle many of them depend on public assistance foreign for those who cannot afford a hot meal portugal has the so-called social government and community organizations run more than 800 of these facilities every day they provide a free lunch for many of those who come it is important that others cannot see they are in need in lulay 80 hot meals are carried home every day in shopping bags hidden from prying eyes norrish sebim even though many still don't know how to pay for their food on paper the crisis is almost overcome in fact macroeconomic statistics do suggest that the foundering economy is recovering in 2016 portugal achieved a budgetary deficit of 2.1 percent thus for the first time meeting the requirements of the eu this is the best performance portugal has had in its 42 years of democracy [Music] um but where are the jobs coming from how well is labor being paid now that workers rights have been crippled to create incentives in the labor market you see that some people have a contract or valve let me say but others have new contracts are not of the same quality as the ones in the past and this creates uncertainty if you have only a part-time contract while you need a full time or one you want to work full-time it's not really lifting you out of poverty the garada submitted countless applications for the widest range of jobs without success patricia even applied for a job as a supermarket cashier um foreign finally patricia was offered the chance to work as a real estate agent patricia works six days a week often until 10 pm she has no fixed based salary in order to acquire more clients she is on call around the clock in hopes of making a sale and earning a commission she also gives private lessons on the side and her husband paulo sometimes gets temporary jobs it is a precarious situation hundreds of thousands of portuguese left their country in the past few years because they were paid so badly they couldn't live on their income if they had a job at all the grada family considered leaving portugal as well but they stayed because of the children now patricia sells the houses of those who left if portugal needs skilled young people to solve its economic problem but the poor and the old are the ones left behind and as the population ages the government will be confronted with even greater social expenditures even though the economy is on the rise again public debt has reached a level of 130 percent of the gdp the allowed limit in the eu is 60 percent [Music] the situation is precarious portugal has to spend 4.3 percent of its gdp to service its debt it is thanks to the european central bank that the interest rates aren't even higher it has pumped billions in two countries in crisis by purchasing worthless sovereign debt otherwise portugal would have to dig even deeper into its pockets to pay its debt [Music] but what other solution is there anyone who demands debt relief should understand that portugal was suffering from chronically weak growth even before the crisis hit [Music] the southern coast and lisbon are the only regions doing relatively well most of the jobs in the coastal region relate to tourism just like this amusement park tourism is a seasonal business from november to april there's no money that's why many jobs here in fadro are precarious the economy lacks exportable products globalization has increased competition especially for one of portugal's major export sectors textiles other countries have long been producing at lower cost the globalism is finished is gonzalen but the eu is stepping in make portugal more competitive it has been funding the reform program portugal 2020 since 2014 with investment subsidies amounting to 25 billion euros and so far the results appear to be positive so is sees it the same way infrastructure projects should also bring jobs to the region he he says mayor of the small city of sabras in the south of portugal [Music] the renovation of the old city is being funded in two-thirds by eu funds local construction firms won the eu-wide tenders through dumping prices even though no jobs were created existing ones were least preserved the new left-wing coalition led by the socialists in power since the winter of 2015 decided to reverse the decision made during the crisis to decrease the cost of labor they want to stimulate consumption by increasing the minimum wage and lowering the value added tax additional tax cuts are intended to attract investors um is this the right decision or will it slow down the recent upturn is it possible to stimulate growth through tax reduction meaning increasing the public deficit on one side and higher wages on the other is portugal's workforce competitive enough on an international scale [Music] um what will portugal's future look like the government is counting on help from the eu relying solely on the eu today seems like a risky move especially for those who did not benefit from the mini upturn and continue to be precariously employed if at all and as long as portugal depends on the eu the crisis is not over by contrast ireland is the poster child of the european rescue and every statistic indicates progress ireland of all places for centuries the nation was europe's poor house from the great famine in the mid-19th century to the waves of immigration in the 1950s and 60s ireland was synonymous with in the 1990s ireland experienced a boom economy grew rapidly and the unemployment rate fell this expansion was fueled by billions in eu subsidies that flowed into the country and then add to that the low interest rates that came with the introduction of the euro and ireland had itself a boom unfortunately the boom also led to a real estate bubble some british and overseas banks came here and they were very keen to lend money to irish people to buy houses and the irish banks were doing that as well and over time property prices start to increase and people believed that the economy was very strong and that property would would continue to increase in value when the financial crisis struck in 2008 real estate prices collapsed the banks fell into financial distress and had to be rescued which cost the government billions ireland stood at the brink of bankruptcy and needed an eu bailout in 2010. only thanks to loans from the troika amounting to 67.5 billion euros was the government able to finance its budget in return the country had to implement a severe austerity program when the recession came of course everything changed unemployment went up to 15 from about 5 number of people in poverty increased social welfare payments were cut many many other services were were cut and indeed for poor people their quality of life depends not only on the welfare payments they get but on the services that are available to them and many of those services were cut are simply abolished three years later in 2013 the irish were able to exit the rescue program ireland became attractive to lenders once again and foreign firms invested heavily on the island exports rose and the number of unemployed fell although the amount of debt was still huge the irish model was back in business it's amazing how they they created jobs the last year uh youth unemployment also is is far better than before but what is still far too high in ireland is the poverty level more than one in six irish citizens lives in poverty including many children social housing construction stopped leading to a total lack of affordable accommodation as a result a growing number of families are homeless sarah is one of them i was doing fine i had a job i had a house i had my children everything was just very good you know going rousey and then all of a sudden boom just changed like that you know so uh not everybody ends up in situations like this you know because they're on drugs or alcohol or anything like this it can happen to every anybody like anybody first sarah lost her job and then her house became uninhabitable when a pipe burst her landlord did not take care of it suddenly she found herself pregnant and with three children out on the street she placed her children with a foster home to save them from homelessness today she lives in a woman's shelter with her baby it's very hard emotionally it's there's not a single day that goes by that i don't think about it there's times where i cry constantly you know and having one child with me and not having my other tree i feel so guilty in 2016 the number of homeless people rose by 24 many families are affected as well in dublin 2700 children live in shelters for me there are five basic needs five fundamental human rights the right to adequate food the right to education the right to health care the right to work and the right to a home and the group that are most in poverty are single-parent families so many of those single-parent families are living in on welfare they cannot get a job and they cannot get back to education because our child care costs are so high child care in ireland costs almost twice as much as the european average many parents don't work because they simply cannot afford to pay for child care and not working only aggravates the situation for both parents and children one in three children is poor or lives at the risk of poverty foreign many of those young people who are growing up in homes that are poor will end up leaving school early that will affect their employment possibilities for the rest of their lives and so poverty simply transfers from one generation to another generation at last the irish government is stepping in the federal budget for child care was increased by 19 million so that the law can become effective as of september 2017. all parents with children of six months or older should get financial aid thus making child care affordable regardless of who is providing it even the political opposition supports the law whether it's the grandparent at home whether it's the child minder whether it's the stay-at-home mom which is very important as well and the whole makeup of it whether it's a community crash be it public or private as long as the intervention and the the support mechanism is there along with proper funding it will work it will work accessibility sustainability and inclusion that's the key message the law would probably not have even passed without the eu's advocacy we cannot decide and just oblige member state to develop enough of that or of that we have common tools common objectives we help them to develop things but of course in the entities and the member state that it has to be done however it will be years before the situation for children changes and the worst may be yet to come do i see child care child poverty continuing into 2020 absolutely do i see the health care systems throughout europe are in ireland here being sorted by 2020 absolutely not we have waiting lists we have waiting lists and child care poverty is only going up not coming down there is already a lost generation in europe working poor and unemployed young people in countries like portugal and italy who suffered the downturn during their financial crisis are most affected now child poverty threatens to leave yet another generation by the wayside can we talk about a successive year of 2020 there is no simple answer to this question what is crucial is that there be a europe-wide effort to combat poverty europe must recognize it will be judged by the numbers of its poor citizens if it simply resigns itself to perpetual poverty the european ideal will be jeopardized demonstrations [Music] how can the eu keep legitimizing itself when so many of its citizens feel their situation is constantly declining with people's worsening economic situation their faith in politics is crumbling add to that a real image problem what i see too often and sorry dear ministers if you're listening to me but i see too often that national ministers come out and only tell a national story we want it's in our interest yet that is exactly what europe needs for the social and economic union to succeed [Music] you

Channel: wocomoDOCS

Views: 496,258

Keywords: Documentary, Income poverty, child poverty, inequality in Europe, Relative poverty, Students, singles parents, Human rights, social exclusion, poor children, unemployed, working poor, social fairness, democratic change, poor people, homeless, national average income, National average salary, financial crisis

Id: d2T1XxHf-_Q

Length: 52min 8sec (3128 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021