The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Hartz IV and poverty: it affects children and single parents above all - DGB: "A shame"

2021-07-19T10:03:40.796Z


A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for single parents to create a secure livelihood for themselves and their children, despite permanent work.


A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for single parents to create a secure livelihood for themselves and their children, despite permanent work.

Gütersloh / Berlin - According to a new study, financial poverty threatens above all single parents and their children.

Almost 43 percent of all single-parent families are considered low-income, according to a recent survey by the Bertelsmann Foundation.

The German Trade Union Confederation (DGB), social associations and the left demanded political action against child poverty.

In families with one child and both parents, only nine percent are considered low-income.

With two children it hits eleven percent.

Single parents are in most cases gainfully employed, but often cannot secure the subsistence level with their income.


Poverty: Children and young people are affected to a considerable extent

The risk of poverty for single parents - 88 percent of whom are women - and their children remain at a high level, emphasizes study author Anne Lenze from the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences.

In 2020, around 34 percent of single parents received basic social security benefits according to SGB II (Hartz IV).

Their share is almost five times higher than that of couple families.

According to the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, children and young people are affected by poverty to a considerable extent.

Within ten years, the poverty rate among adolescents climbed from 18.2 to 20.5 percent (2019) - with around 2.8 million affected minors.

“It is shameful and shocking to see how child poverty is intensifying and hardening in this rich country,” says Joachim Rock from the research center.

Particularly "hard and violent" hit families with many children as well as single parents.

Bertelsmann Stiftung: "Poor Despite Work"

Poor despite work: according to the Bertelsmann Stiftung, often the bitter reality. Among single mothers, 71 percent are employed, almost half work full-time or close to full-time. Among the single parents of SGB II recipients, 40 percent are gainfully employed - so they would not be able to make ends meet without “topping up”. The study juxtaposes the latest data on relative income poverty from 2019 and reference to SGB II from 2020. According to the current definition, people are at risk of poverty if they have less than 60 percent of the median income of all households. In 2019, the limit for a single parent with one child was 1396 euros.

Lenze sees political movement, but more reforms are needed.

After all, 2.2 million children and young people - a good 16 percent of all minors - now live in a single-parent family - and the trend is rising.

And almost half - 45 percent - of all children with reference to SGB II grow up in single-parent families, who make up less than a fifth of all families.

In 2019 there were 1.52 million single-parent families with underage children.


The Left: "Child poverty is failure to provide assistance"

The DGB was alarmed. "It is a shame that poverty in rich Germany still has such proportions," said DGB Vice President Elke Hannack. For low-wage earners and single parents, Hannack called for an employee-oriented basic child benefit. Existing services would have to be summarized in a meaningful way. The President of the Social Association Germany, Adolf Bauer, said: "In order to improve the situation of single parents, the availability of adequate and high-quality care for children under three years of age, kindergarten age and school children is an important prerequisite."


Left boss Susanne Hennig-Wellsow said: "The greatest help for single parents is when the poverty pressure is removed from the children." In a rich country, child poverty is neglected.

Children up to the age of 18 should receive € 328 to € 630 as part of the basic child benefit.

Poverty: Corona pandemic intensifies existential fears

Lenze explains that it was possible to lower the SGB II quotas, especially in East Germany.

In the west, however, the rate is very high in Bremen (62.4 percent) as well as Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia at around 43 percent.

And: "The relative poverty has not decreased, the single parents and their children have remained poor anyway."


The association of single mothers and fathers has also observed more existential fears since Corona *.

Often single mothers work in the low-wage sector, says VAMV boss Daniela Jaspers.

“Loss of earnings is a huge hit.

Single parents usually do not have any reserves. "

Poverty: Social benefits are insufficient and require too much bureaucracy

The single parent Nina from Düsseldorf works 28 hours a week in retail and earns 990 euros net. That is not enough for her, her son (8) and daughter (19). As SGB II “top-up”, she receives an average of 800 euros per month, says the 41-year-old. For months she saved on a laptop for homeschooling. “We had to bleed a lot for that.” Since the ex-partner pays no maintenance, she wants to apply for a state maintenance advance for the son. "In order to get support services, however, a lot of bureaucracy is always required."


In the pandemic, recipients of low incomes are particularly affected by losses, says Antje Funcke from the foundation.

Numerous mini-jobs have disappeared, and single parents felt that too.

Many demand a participation allowance for children, which should ensure them a good upbringing and bundle all financial benefits.

Lenze expects such basic child benefits to be introduced in the next legislature.

"#StopptKinderarmut" (#StopptKinderarmut) was a social media campaign run by the foundation, says Funcke.

They reported about exclusion, renunciation, shame, how exhausted their single mothers are in the effort to enable them to have a good childhood - "and how difficult it was for them to endure."

(Dpa) * Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN- MEDIA.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-07-19

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-03-28T09:16:11.650Z

Trends 24h

News/Politics 2024-03-28T06:04:53.137Z

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.