UKRAINE’S WAR HAS LED TO GROWING CHILD POVERTY IN EUROPE

UKRAINE'S WAR HAS LED TO GROWING CHILD POVERTY IN EUROPE

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused a geopolitical crisis with economic, energy and social consequences. Among these is the increase in child poverty on the European continent, according to UNICEF.

The economic cost of the war and the resulting inflation on the continent are the main causes that have pushed four million children into poverty, especially in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. According to the organisation’s report, this represents a 19 per cent increase over 2021.

According to the report’s findings, of the 10.6 million people in 22 countries who moved into poverty by 2022, 40 per cent are children. These figures are alarming, especially since children make up only 25% of the population.

RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: HARDEST HIT

It is no surprise that the two countries at the epicentre of the conflict are the worst affected. According to UNICEF, three quarters of the increase in the total recorded comes from Russia, representing 2.8 million children. Meanwhile, in Ukraine 500,000 children have also fallen into poverty.

Of course, among the reasons for the 8% drop in Russia’s GDP. The armed conflict has also brought shortages of basic commodities, explained Adeline Hazan, president of Unicef France. Hazan also pointed out that poverty has other consequences, such as malnutrition and lack of education.

RUSSIA AND UKRAINE: HARDEST HIT

The UN explains that the less resources a household has, the more of the budget is spent on food and therefore less money is available for other needs such as education or healthcare. This also means that these children are in more vulnerable positions, where they can be abused or exploited.

According to UNICEF, the increase in poverty has put 4,500 children at risk of death, while 117,000 children are at risk of dropping out of school. For Afshan Khan, UNICEF’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, action is needed before child poverty leads to loss of life.

 

WHAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT CHILD POVERTY?

Among UNICEF’s plans to improve the situation of child poverty in Europe is the “European Child Guarantee,” which is a project involving the European Commission and several EU countries.

It aims to alleviate the effects of poverty on children, as well as to give them opportunities for development. Also, in its study on the situation sexe porno, some guidelines are given to support vulnerable families. These include:

  • Children should have access to universal cash benefits, as well as guaranteeing a minimum income security.
  • Increase social assistance to families with children in need, including refugees.
  • Regulate the prices of basic commodities for families.
  • Maintain and protect social spending, especially for the most vulnerable children and families.
  • Protect and support the provision of health, nutrition and social care services to pregnant women, infants and young children in need.

 

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THE GROWTH OF POVERTY CONCERNS EUROPE

THE GROWTH OF POVERTY CONCERNS EUROPE
France

It is no secret to anyone that the effects of the war in Ukraine, as well as the pandemic and other recent events in the international context, have revealed the cracks in the hitherto unbreakable stability of the European Union.

Just over two weeks ago, Emmanuel Macron, President of France, spoke in the Council of Ministers making public his concern for the economic, social and political future of the European sphere. Far from talking about possibilities and scenarios, he affirmed the “end of abundance” that until now had protected Europe from the consequences of many international events.

Already during the pandemic, the French president stated that he was concerned about the need to maintain stability without the necessary liquidity from the State. Let us remember, after all, that this country came to the rescue of many of its businessmen and entrepreneurs during the previous period of economic recession.

Now, once again, there is a need to act quickly in the face of the scarcity of raw materials, as a direct consequence of the war in Ukraine.

 

BAD OMEN

However, President Macron’s concerns go beyond liquidity and food. He affirms that the war between Ukraine and Russia has only been a way of abruptly making us see a problem that has been brewing for some time and that it has not dealt major blows to Europe because, until now, the continent had had the tools to deal with the worst moments tukif.

He affirms that the presence and proliferation of authoritarian or anti-liberal governments on the international scene are the first evidence, warning of a silent and gradual end to democracy and human rights as the world knows them.

The weather also, it is warned, will be a key factor in this whole matter. With more serious issues on the table such as the inflation of the global economy and the war in Ukraine, the world has forgotten or has chosen to ignore the effects of climate change in the world.

Let us remember, after all, that last summer France was hit by an alarming drought in the country. A drought that, in addition to registering as one of the most acute in history, puts the country in need of rationing its supply.

 

MEMORIES FROM THE PAST

We know from experience that human beings have a short memory. However, there is alarming evidence in Europe that makes it impossible to forget the reality and the difficult times.

The widespread drought in France, Spain and other European countries brought to the current scene bitter memories of the past, of sad periods of misery.

MEMORIES FROM THE PAST

Throughout Europe there are engravings known as “Hunger Stones”. They are strategically placed engravings at the edge of rivers, lakes and other main water sources, marking an alarmingly low water level with messages from our ancestors.

The appearance of these inscriptions was collected by a Twitter user (@batallitass), where photographs of some of them are collected. One of them, for example, is in the Elbe River. It dates from 1616 and reads “If you see me, you will cry” in German. Next to it, some years of the worst droughts in history are chiselled into the stone: 1417, 1616, 1707, etc.

What measures do you think the European Union should take to avoid a general collapse of welfare to which its citizens had been accustomed until now?

 

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Government benefit programs cut poverty in a half

A new analysis of Census data finds that Social Security reduces the proportion of elderly living in poverty from 50 percent to about 12 percent and lifts 12 million elderly people out of poverty, while the Earned Income Tax Credit — a tax credit for low-income working families — now lifts more children out of poverty than any other government program.

Strengths of the Safety Net, by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, also finds the impact of government benefit programs in reducing poverty weakened modestly in 1996, especially among children. The study identifies this as a key reason the poverty rate failed to drop in 1996 despite economic growth.

Even so, the report found, government benefit programs have a large effect in reducing poverty. The incomes that families received through the private economy left 57.5 million people below the poverty line in 1996, the study reported. Government benefit programs lifted 27 million of these 57.5 million people out of poverty, cutting poverty nearly in half.

“An array of programs, led by Social Security, are having strong effects in reducing poverty,” said Wendell Primus, the Center’s director of income security and co-author of the study. “Without Social Security, poverty among the elderly would be widespread.”

Primus noted that in the absence of Social Security and other government benefits, one of every two elderly people would have fallen below the poverty line in 1996. Primarily because of Social Security, fewer than one in 10 elderly Americans was poor that year.

Primus added that an examination of these data over time also shows that when government benefit programs have been strengthened, they have lifted larger proportions of people out of poverty, while fewer people have been lifted out when — as in 1996 — the programs have weakened.

Study Counts Certain Non-Cash Benefits and Taxes

The study uses unpublished Census data to compare the number of people with incomes below the poverty line before receipt of government benefits to those left in poverty after government benefits are counted. The difference reflects the number of people the safety net programs remove from poverty.

The study follows the recommendations of a 1995 National Academy of Sciences panel in counting certain non-cash benefits such as food stamps and housing assistance as part of income and in reflecting the effects on income of federal income and payroll taxes and the Earned Income Tax Credit. As a result, the study’s measure of poverty after government benefits are counted shows somewhat lower poverty rates than the official Census Bureau poverty measure, which excludes non-cash benefits and the EITC and measures before-tax rather than after-tax income.

Programs Cut Poverty Nearly in Half

In 1996, the study found, 57.5 million people — 21.6 percent of the U.S. population — had incomes below the poverty line before receipt of government benefits. After government benefits are taken into account, the number remaining in poverty was reduced to 30.5 million people, or 11.5 percent of the population. The study also found that government benefit programs reduce the depth of poverty — the degree to which families’ incomes fall below the poverty line before receipt of government benefits — by two-thirds.

The study found that government benefit programs, sometimes referred to as safety cancer net programs, have their most striking effects on the elderly. Some 50.1 percent of the elderly population would have been poor in 1996 in the absence of government benefits, the study reported. Government benefit programs lowered the elderly poverty rate to 9.2 percent.

The strong effect of government benefits in reducing poverty among the elderly is due overwhelmingly to Social Security. In 1996, Social Security was responsible for nine of every 10 elderly people lifted out of poverty by government benefit programs. The safety net programs lifted a total 13 million elderly people out of poverty, with Social Security responsible for lifting out 11.7 million of these 13 million people.

Effect on Children Substantially Smaller

Government benefits lift from poverty more than four of every five elderly people who otherwise would be poor, the study found, but fewer than one in three children who otherwise would be poor. In 1996, government benefit programs lowered the child poverty rate from 23.6 percent before receipt of government benefits to 16.1 percent after receipt of benefits.

The Earned Income Tax Credit, expanded under Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton, emerged in 1996 as the single program removing the largest number of children from poverty, the study reported. The EITC, which offsets some or all of federal income and payroll taxes and, in many cases, also provides a wage supplement to low-income working families, lifted 4.6 million people — including 2.4 million children — from poverty in 1996.

Although the EITC has the largest effect in lifting children out of poverty, cash assistance and food and housing programs have a larger impact than the EITC in diminishing the severity of poverty among children. Many of the children whose families receive cash assistance are so poor that this aid renders them less poor rather than lifting them above the poverty line.

Since the EITC is available only to working families, its effects on children in those families are especially strong, the study found. Among working families, the EITC has a larger effect than any other program or category of programs both in reducing the number of poor children and in reducing the severity of poverty among those who remain poor.

The EITC’s effects are largest in the South, the region in which wages tend to be lowest and the proportion of working families with poverty-level incomes is highest. Nearly half of all children in the South who were lifted out of poverty by government benefit programs were raised from poverty by the EITC.

Weakening of the Safety Net for Children

The study found that despite the strengthened effects of the EITC in 1996, government benefits lifted out of poverty a smaller percentage of children who would otherwise have been poor than in the previous year. Overall, the benefit programs lifted about 400,000 fewer children from poverty in 1996 than in 1995.

This decline in the impact of the programs, while modest, was sufficient to prevent the child poverty rate, as well as the overall poverty rate, from dropping. Between 1995 and 1996, the poverty rate for children before receipt of government benefits declined modestly, reflecting improvements in the economy. But after receipt of government benefits, the child poverty rate remained essentially unchanged between the two years. The negative effect of a weakening safety net offset the positive effect of a growing economy, the study found.

From 1995 to 1996, the number of children receiving cash public assistance benefits fell 600,000, while the number receiving food stamps fell about 700,000. Improvement in the economy can explain only part of these declines, the study said. It noted that among children who were poor before receipt of government benefits, the proportions receiving public assistance and food stamps fell in 1996.

The welfare law enacted in August 1996 was not a major reason for this decline, according to the study, as few of the legislation’s major impacts were felt that year. Many states already had policies in place that were causing caseloads to drop.

The study explained that with these state efforts continuing and the welfare law taking effect, the decline in the number of children receiving food stamps and cash public assistance became sharper in 1997, with the number of children receiving these benefits falling by much larger amounts than can be attributed to continued economic growth. This suggests the proportions of poor children receiving these forms of assistance are likely to have fallen significantly in 1997 and that the safety net’s effect in reducing child poverty could be weakening further. Poverty data for 1997 will be available later this year.

New Trend Could Reverse Long-term Pattern

This developing trend of a weakening safety net for families with children could begin to reverse a decade-long pattern. The Center’s report compares the effects of government programs on gratis porr poverty in 1987 and 1996, two similar points in the business cycle. During this period, significant changes in safety net programs occurred. In the years prior to enactment of the welfare law, the EITC expanded, more low-income disabled children became eligible for SSI, and food stamp benefits were improved. As a result, despite the modest weakening of the safety net between 1995 and 1996, government benefit programs still had a greater impact in reducing poverty in 1996 than in 1987.

But if safety net programs reduced poverty more than in 1996 then in 1987, the economy had a smaller impact. The poverty rate as measured before receipt of government benefits — the measure that reflects the impact of the economy by itself — was actually higher in 1996 than in 1987, even though the unemployment rate was significantly lower.

“Despite remarkable progress in reducing xhamster unemployment, the economy is performing less well than in previous recoveries in lifting people out of poverty,” study co-author Kathryn Porter said. “As a result, the role of the safety net in reducing poverty takes on added significance.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonpartisan research organization and policy institute that conducts research and analysis on a range of government policies and programs, and specializes in issues related to fiscal policy, social welfare and nutrition policy. It is supported primarily by foundation grants.

Mexico: Support for the Wellbeing of Children of Working Mothers

 

The Mexican government sought to increase the female labor force, and in 2007, they introduced a comprehensive childcare system known as the Estancias Infantiles para Apoyar a Madres Trabajadoras (EI). The EI covered over 90 percent of the cost of enrolling a child below four years in a formal child care center. That way, women who wanted to go to work, school, or other income-generating activities could easily go on with their activities. However, those who already had access to the child care system were exempted from the program. 

 

Rolling Out the Game-Changer Policy 

The EI was rolled out fast because, by mid-2010, about 357,000 child care vacancies had been filled up. It increased women’s probability of working and minimize the time they devoted to child nurturing. That way, they could obtain stable jobs and better income. Husbands who were previously involved in child-rearing could now get better-paying jobs xxx

When implementing the policies, the government assumed that women lived alone. However, Mexican women with children are usually a part of a larger household. They don’t make unilateral decisions regarding housework, childcare, and their ability to supply labor to the market. Therefore, it’s essential to understand the effects of the system on the entire family system. 

The EI accepts children who are between one and four years old. At age four, a child is eligible to join preschool. To qualify, the mother should not be working at a job covered by the Mexican social security system. In addition, the household income must be lower than six times the minimum wage. 

The initial EI allocation between 2007 and 2010 was quite distinctive. The state and local governments were tasked with approving child care centres’ applications. Unfortunately, the placement did not follow a standard procedure, and some regions approved the applications faster than others. 

 

The Impact of EI on the Mexican Economy

The first benefit that the country has experienced is an increase in Female Labor Force Participation (FLFP). Previously, women in their 30s made a smaller share of the workforce. Although Mexico’s FLFP is not as high as developed countries, the nation is doing much better than its counterpart developing countries. It stands at 46%, slightly lower than the average of 60% in developed countries.  

A high FLFP attracts many benefits, including higher production and better population empowerment. Cultural roles determine the efficacy of the EI program. Other determinants include the availability of part-time jobs and the disparity in human capital accumulation. 

It is well-known that FLFP is lower for women with smaller children than child-free ones. Research has established that childcare costs considerably impact a country’s FLFP. Therefore, EI has gone a long way in bridging this gap and allowing women with children equal opportunities to work. 

Other countries have a lot to learn from Mexico because it is evident that external child care has a strong positive effect on the labor supply. By emulating the example, leaders will give their women a chance to be actively involved in the country’s economic growth.