The Covid-19 crisis has deepened the conditions of poverty in which around nine million people in France were living before the pandemic struck and has plunged into poverty a significant number of others, creating the prospect of an enduring spiral of destitution even after a rebound in economic activity, according to a detailed report presented to French Prime minister Jean Castex on Wednesday.
The 152-page report was by a permanent advisory council to the government on policies to fight poverty and social exclusion, the CNLE. The body is made up of 64 members, a broad panel who include representatives from associations and charities active in providing aid for the poor, members of parliament and local councils, and a scientific committee of experts in issues of social exclusion.
The CNLE was commissioned in January by Castex to provide a detailed insight into the social consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, in the form of a qualitative presentation of the issue. While it includes an abundance of compelling data from a wide number of sources, compiled by a team of researchers led by sociology professor Nicolas Duvoux, the notable force of the report is in the examples of first-hand accounts from those who have fallen into poverty and the experiences of those on the frontline of tackling social exclusion.
Enlargement : Illustration 1
In 2019, according to official figures, there were 9.1 million people in France living in poverty, as defined by those with a net monthly income of less than 1,070 euros. While that number was down by 0.3% compared to 2018, the findings of the CNLE report suggest that the official figure for 2020, when finally published later this year, will show a surge in the numbers plunged into poverty since the start of the Covid-19 health crisis.
“The crisis provokes a triple mechanism, which must be kept in mind,” the CNLE report said. “On one side, it impedes the usual ways out of poverty – each year [representing] about one third of the numbers, even though some fall back in the following year. On another, it sends into poverty those who were close to it (foreseeable poverty), in great insecurity and on a downward path: 44% of those served by the Restaurants du cœur [food and meals distribution charity] because of Covid had already in the past had recourse to food aid. Finally, [the Covid-19 crisis] has prompted unexpected arrivals [for food aid]. While extremely hard in its effects on the bottom of the social ladder, it has spared those at the top.”
Speaking to Mediapart, CNLE president Fiona Lazaar, who is also a Member of Parliament, warned that this “triple mechanism” would have lasting effects, even if immediately partially buffeted by emergency financial aid put in place by the government. “The state aids allowed a tidal wave like that in [the financial crisis of] 2008 to be avoided, but poverty is a vast tide which will leave a mark over the middle course. The cicatricial effect of the crisis will have to be dealt with.”
Social workers and associations cited in the report recount how a section of the public who previously never had to turn to help from charities were now joining queues at food distribution centres. They include shopkeepers and those with small businesses, freelance workers, and others who were in undeclared labour, people who previously just about survived on their income but who now have either lost their jobs or suffered a critical loss of earnings while on furlough. Single-parent households were notable victims.
One example in the report was the case of a 40-year-old divorcee who was interviewed at a Restaurant du cœur (“restaurant of the heart”) food distribution centre in the Territoire de Belfort département (or county) in east-central France. Identified only as “Mrs E.”, she has two daughters, aged 11 and 17, and suffers from chronic ill health.
She recounted how she had a “very good situation” before the separation in 2019 from her husband, who had a stable job as a public employee while she worked as a nursery assistant. After the separation, “the bills accumulated, I thought I’d get through, but no”. She explained that during the lockdown last year, “I didn’t eat but they [her daughters] did, I went without for them”. Her medical appointments were often postponed because of the strain on the health system due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which made coping with her illness “very difficult”.
“If you want to know my current situation, it is catastrophic,” she said. “I’m in the red, we’re in total shit […] Since the beginning of the [health] crisis I don’t give treats to the children, no trips out, nothing. Money serves only for food.”
In 2020, an estimated 284,000 people lost their jobs in France, notably in the hotel, restaurant and entertainment sector, and the latest official figures show a rise in unemployment last year of 6.3%. In the third quarter of 2020, there were 2.7 million unemployed, representing 9.6% of the active population.
Warnings of a 'timebomb' of destitution
One of the government’s emergency measures during the crisis was the introduction of an extension of the period for claiming unemployment benefit for those who were close to losing their rights to it, which partially contained the numbers of claims submitted for other minimum social welfare payments. However, the numbers receiving so-called “active solidarity revenue”, the RSA, which is a top-up state benefit payment for very low-income households (including the unemployed and those on very low or partial wages), had risen by 8.5% between October 2019 and October 2020, the report noted.
In January 2021, they had risen by 6.2% compared to January 2020. While since then the numbers have receded, more than two million people were receiving the RSA in October 2020, according to the health and social affairs ministry’s statistics office, the Drees.
Meanwhile, the association Secours Populaire, a major French charity dedicated to helping people in poverty, reported a 30% rise in the numbers of people it provides aid to during the first 11 months of 2020. The report said that during the two-month lockdown that began in mid-March 2020, the first of several, the charity “provided help to 1.27 million people […] representing 45% more than over the same period the previous year”.
Youth unemployment, which is defined as concerning those aged 15-24 who actively seek work, rose by 2.6% to reach a total of 21.8% in the third quarter of 2020, according to data from the French national statistics and economic studies, INSEE. That compared with a total national jobless rate of 9%, and a rise among all the jobless of 0.6%. The report underlined that a significant number among the young, which it described as “the Covid generation”, were forced for the first time to rely on food distribution aid.
It cited a study by a federation representing private temporary employment agencies, Prism’emploi, which estimated that the Covid-19 crisis led to a loss of income for 41% of the young workforce, and that of these 23% relied on their families for support, and 18% on support from the state. “This greater role given to families leads to greater inequalities between those families which can provide help and those which cannot,” the CNLE report said.
More generally, food banks variously reported a rise in distribution volumes of between 20%-30% since the start of the crisis. “In this context,” noted the report, “the release by the government of two [funding contributions] for food aid, of 39 million euros in April and then 55 million euros in July, was an appreciable back-up, but very far from covering the needs and expenditure engaged.”
During the financial crisis in 2008, the Restaurants du cœur food and meal distribution chain recorded a 15% year-on-year rise in the numbers of people seeking its help, but the rise over the period of 2008-2010 totalled 25%. “In face of the current crisis,” warned the CNLE report, “the (numerous) mechanisms which are containing poverty and bankruptcies are not destined to last forever.” The CNLE fears a “timebomb” of destitution has been created, “for example, the situations of unpaid rents which can generate evictions”.
“Pauperisation takes the form of a vicious cycle, where difficulties at several levels are cumulative and are delayed in taking effect,” it added. “If the crisis has not caused a shift for all of society, at least in terms of what is visible at this stage in statistical observations, it has fragilized, no doubt enduringly, a number of its elements.”
“This crisis has shown the strength of our [French] social model,” said Fiona Lazaar, “and its solidity should draw our attention to some of the holes in the net, like the young who suffer from dropping out of schooling, from hunger, from the absence of social life and psychological difficulties. Those who don’t benefit from solidarity from the family have tipped over the brink. This report does not aim to make propositions, but my conviction remains that a safety net is missing for the young.”
“It must not be hoped that the sticking-plasters put in place during the crisis will suffice, because the wounds will remain and will even for some people have difficulty in healing,” she added. “What is needed is a long-term vision, and not to imagine that the [economic] revival will solve everything.”
The CNLE has decided to monitor the evolution of the situation by publishing a quarterly report on poverty in France, beginning after the summer.
-------------------------
- The original French version of this report can be found here.
English version, with some added reporting, by Graham Tearse