This is the cruel observation made by INSEE which makes public a long survey on the level of poverty of the inhabitants of the Occitanie region. In Haute-Garonne, about 20% of workers earn less than 1,063 euros per month.
It is no longer enough to work to live with dignity. The proof with the latest survey on poverty in the public region made by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (Insee) of Occitanie.
INSEE shows, in a first study, that “one worker out of ten remains poor despite the other resources of his household”. That is, nearly 470,000 people out of a population of more than 2 million inhabitants. The study predates the Covid-19 period, which does not help the situation, but in 2018, “20% of workers live on less than 1,063 euros per month”, an income which corresponds to the poverty line.
The most endured women
“This form of poverty particularly affects women and the youngest, in particular because of conditions of employment that promote precariousness,” says INSEE. However, the income of other household members and the payment of social benefits allow some to compensate for this employment situation described. In the end, 8% of workers in the region are in a situation of poverty despite compensation within their household and social transfers”.
Having a job no longer includes a reliable guarantee for homes. “The monetary resources that they would derive from their activity would not enable them to avoid poverty if they lived alone and had no other income or social transfer,” explains the study. But some of these working people live in households that have other incomes or benefit from social benefits and thus avoid monetary poverty. »
The evolution of poverty
The second INSEE study, correlated to the first, focuses on the face and evolution of poverty according to the territories. It is clear that “poverty is stronger in urban centers and in rural areas with very dispersed housing”.
While poverty increased little in Occitania between 2013 and 2018 (+0.2 points), it remained at a high level: 17.2% of inhabitants (14.6% in mainland France) lived below the poverty line in 2018. This is particularly the case in large cities like Toulouse where “residents are more likely to be poor in 2018 than in 2013”, notes INSEE. Large cities offer attractiveness, but nothing is less certain for nearly 20% of people who struggle to make ends meet.
RSA recipients down
Some precarious jobs do not always offer the means to get out of it, generally “undervalued sectors, which manifest a lot of manpower and can experience difficulty in recruiting”.
INSEE notes that “workers in a situation of economic poverty are very present in certain services intended for people (laundry, care and beauty, repair of household goods, etc.), in administrative and business support services, but also in the agriculture and accommodation-catering (from 30% to 40%)”.
As a result, the beneficiaries of the active solidarity income (RSA) have been more numerous in the department in recent years. The health crisis has amplified the phenomenon and INSEE gives the figure of 32,603 recipients in 2018, 33,042 in 2019 and 35,937 in 2020. Nevertheless, the departmental council of Haute-Garonne, one of whose powers is the payment of the RSA, notes a drop of nearly 1,000 beneficiaries between this year and last year: 36,600 beneficiaries in April 2022 compared to 37,400 in 2021.
Single-parent families most at risk
Among the populations most exposed to poverty because of their low resources, single-parent families represent one in five families in large urban centres. Their poverty rate there fell by 0.7 points between 2013 and 2018, in particular thanks to targeted measures which made it possible to increase their standard of living: revaluation of the family support allowance and the increased RSA paid under certain conditions to alone with children and creation of the guarantee against unpaid alimony. On the other hand, poverty increased between 2013 and 2018 for couples with three or more children (+ 4.1 points), also more present in large urban centers, such as the city of Toulouse. In these municipalities, more than 90,000 children, or one in three, live in a poor family.