Social report: 1.3 million people are at risk of poverty

On Tuesday, Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) presented the current social report. This first appeared in 1967 and describes the social situation in Austria. The report presented on Tuesday covers the years 2020 to 2023 and has 200 pages.

“We have managed the health and economic effects of the corona pandemic well,” said Rauch at the presentation in the Museumsquartier. Despite high inflation, the number of people affected by poverty has remained largely stable.

The report describes around 1.3 million people as being at risk of poverty. The at-risk-of-poverty threshold in 2022 was an annual income of 16,706 euros. However, there are a variety of criteria to determine poverty. For example, it records what households or people can afford financially: whether it is possible to go on vacation once a year, pay the rent, heat the apartment or regularly engage in paid leisure activities.

Single parents, families with multiple children, the unemployed and people with low incomes are particularly affected by poverty. In 2022, 27 percent of single parents said they had difficulty making ends meet. In the second quarter of 2023 it was already 37 percent. Housing costs in particular (rent, electricity, gas, operating costs, repairs) were viewed as particularly burdensome.

“The most effective poverty policy is the prevention of poverty,” write the study authors. Gainful employment is seen as the key. In the final chapter they propose creating a job guarantee for the long-term unemployed (based on the Marienthal AMS project), a minimum wage and regulation of temporary work.

Green five-point plan

Rauch took the presentation as an opportunity to present his five-point plan for the future realignment of the welfare state. He will probably no longer implement the suggestions politically. Rauch does not plan to remain in politics after the election. In this respect, they can be viewed as a green election campaign program.

Rauch spoke out in favor of introducing basic child security. The existing aid, subsidies and tax reductions are too complicated and not accurate enough. It is for an automatic payment per month, and children should also receive one hot meal per day.

Rauch wants to reform the minimum security, which is now called social assistance. She has to be there for everyone who needs her. This also includes displaced people from Ukraine and those entitled to subsidiary protection. In order to make housing more affordable again, Rauch’s plan calls for 30,000 non-profit apartments to be built over the next five years. There should also be improvements for people with disabilities and in the health sector. Rauch advocated creating 500 additional checkout points.