The Cáritas Regional de Andalucía presented the report on this morning in Seville “Exclusion and social development in Andalusia”. The document, the result of a survey conducted on more than 600 Andalusian families, portrays the serious consequences of the crisis in our autonomous community.
The deed was filed by Francisco José Sanchez Herasvice-president of Cáritas Regional and director of Cáritas Diocesana de Málaga, who thanked the participation of more than 600 families who “opened their doors to us, entrusted us with valuable information for the investigation and even shared their feelings and emotions in times so difficult, ”he assured.
The investigation, explained Sánchez, addresses three axes: the economic one, which has to do with income and consumption; the political, relating to the rights to health, housing, education and political participation; and the relational, which analyzes conflict and social isolation. Some axes which in turn contemplate 37 indicators which allow the population to be placed in four possible scenarios: full integration, precarious integration, moderate exclusion and serious exclusion. These variables make it possible to show -according to Sánchez- “a complete social x-ray of Andalusia that takes into account all the spaces in which a person can be excluded, beyond economic resources”.
Over two million people excluded
During his speech, Tommaso Ubrichof the Cáritas Española Study Group and member of the technical committee of the FOESSA Foundation, highlighted the “unprecedented shock” that the crisis has brought to social cohesion and, above all, to the most fragile and disadvantaged people and families.
“The tsunami that this crisis has caused – said Ubrich- has swept away a good number of families who enjoyed a privileged position of full integration”, so much so that only 42% of Andalusian families normally participate in society compared to 49.3 % doing so in 2018.
Since then, exclusion in Andalusia has increased by more than 36%, which means that, in 2021, just over 2.2 million people (26.3% of the Andalusian population) are in a situation of exclusion social. Half of them, 1.1 million people, are in a situation of serious exclusion; and of these, almost 475,000 people find themselves in an even more critical situation, the so-called expelled society.
The report also reveals that levels of inequality and monetary poverty are high and persistent for many families in Andalusia, which not only determines exclusion but is also the result of its chronicity.
digital divide
One of the most significant traces of the pandemic has been the digital divide, which affects three out of 10 homes. The lack of knowledge and technological means has generated a digital blackout that affects almost half of the families who find themselves in situations of exclusion. “This situation entails -according to Ubrich- a loss of job opportunities, training, relationships or access to rights such as aid and social benefits and which once again affects those who need it most”.
The report produced by the FOESSA Foundation also confirms that the gap caused by gender, foreign nationality and age has deepened since the beginning of the crisis.
Therefore, the accumulated disadvantage due to gender remains. The exclusion concerns 37% of households whose main breadwinner is a woman, compared to 22% in which this figure is a man.
new crack
On the other hand, being a foreigner in Andalusia continues to be a cause that significantly affects the situation of exclusion. 72% of households headed by foreigners are in a situation of exclusion, three times higher than that of households headed by Spanish nationality. This draws a new crack in a fractured society.
Age is the third established gap in our society. One out of four young people under the age of 30 is affected by processes of social exclusion which prevent them from drawing up life plans for the transition to adult life. “We have a youth without employment or with temporary and precarious jobs and, therefore, without the possibility of emancipation or of supporting an independent life or a family,” commented Ubrich.
Another group that accumulates greater factors of vulnerability is that of families with children, with a higher prevalence of social exclusion than families without children.
worst working conditions
The study reveals that the most visible consequence of this crisis has been concentrated in economic activity and employment, reaching a labor market with significant tensions that have led to the destruction of jobs and the paralysis of labor dynamics.
There has been a worsening of working conditions which generates poorer and less personally and socially accomplished workers. Precariousness is growing rapidly and reaches almost 320,000 families (9.8%) who are economically dependent on a person suffering from serious job instability.
Furthermore, the causes that hinder access to the right to work for a part of the unemployed have worsened, generating a dangerous tendency for the employment situation to become chronic.
Ubrich warned that, during the crisis, “more than 200,000 households have a long-term unemployed as their primary breadwinner, more than 500,000 households have all active members unemployed, and nearly 200,000 households lack some kind of regular, predictable income that allow for a minimum of stability.
Young people, adults between 45 and 65, people of immigrant background and people in situations of social exclusion are most affected by this employment system, which only allows them access to jobs in unskilled sectors , in temporary and precarious jobs, with greater exposure to the disease during the pandemic and with a higher rate of layoffs.
Besides employment, housing and health are other important factors of exclusion in Andalusia. As regards health, more than 475,000 families (14.7%) suffer from lack of access to medicines or treatments due to economic problems.
In relation to housing, the report reveals that the combination of high prices and low or unstable income means that just over 400,000 households (12.4%) are left in a situation of severe poverty.
Family strategies for survival
Faced with this scenario, families had to implement the necessary strategies to avoid being dragged down by the crisis. Three were the most repeated: going to one’s savings; seeking or asking for money or other resources from family or friends or the reduction of usual expenses, especially food, clothing or footwear.
After the drawing of the Andalusian company presenting the report of the FOESSA Foundation, Mariano Perez de Ayalapresident of Cáritas Regional and director of the Diocesan of Seville, raised the urgent need to activate policies that allow the lost rights of thousands of Andalusians to be recovered, especially those who suffer the most from the consequences of the crisis.
According to Pérez de Ayala, “this new crisis throws a part of the population into situations of exclusion; from which unfortunately they will never recover, as periods of economic prosperity fail to recover a portion of those who fall into this situation when the economy contracts.
Faced with this situation, the president of Cáritas Andalucía has called for greater coverage of social services and their adaptation to the social reality of the 21st century.
“In a city like Seville, there are areas where people are treated with a wait of up to three months, professionals are overwhelmed and only very basic needs are met and in ridiculous quantities,” denounces Pérez de Ayala, who also affirmed the urgent need to promote measures that improve health care and policies that protect the right to housing and promote employment, its stability and decent conditions, as well as expand and improve the coverage of aid, such as the minimum income vital, among others that allow people to cover their most basic needs and those of their families.
“These families, the ones that swell the figures of exclusion – he concluded- cannot be left alone, they can no longer continue to be heroes. They need public policies that are up to the challenges that await us and the solidarity of our entire society”.
