18.12.2024 – 08:30
Caritas Schweiz / Caritas Suisse
Lucerne (ots)
This year again, the cost of living has increased in Switzerland. This situation threatens the existence of households with low financial resources. The Confederation, cantons and municipalities do not assume their responsibilities in terms of preventing and combating poverty, even if there are laudable exceptions.
In Switzerland, nearly 1.34 million people are poor or at risk of being poor. In 2024, we have still not succeeded in improving this situation, unworthy of a rich country like Switzerland. “There is a lack of political will to move towards a Switzerland without poverty,” laments Peter Lack, director of Caritas Switzerland.
The situation of those affected is not improving, as shown by the Social Almanac 2025 from Caritas Switzerland which has just been published. The increase in the cost of living worsens inequalities. Expenses linked to health insurance premiums and housing rents, in particular, are putting more and more difficulty on people who were until now able to ensure their subsistence on their own.
The risk of poverty particularly affects families
Families are particularly affected by the increase in costs. Couples with children are twice as likely to live in poverty as couples without children, and more than a quarter of single-parent families do not have enough money to live on. “It is clear that Switzerland does not invest enough in families,” explains Aline Masé, head of social policy at Caritas Switzerland. Compared to other Western countries, social spending for families is very modest in Switzerland. In 2022, they represented 1.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), significantly less than the European average.
At the same time, wages and pensions are not keeping up with rising costs. The AVS is not enough to live on. People who benefit from supplementary benefits or social assistance must tighten their belts even more. Even a professional income is no guarantee against poverty. “300,000 people in Switzerland earn a salary that is not enough to live on. This corresponds to almost 8% of the active population,” according to Aline Masé. If we count all members of households dependent on these low incomes, such as children or partners, 700,000 people suffer from the “working poor” phenomenon.
Lack of training, a major obstacle to overcoming poverty
In Switzerland, one in three adults has difficulty reading or calculating. It is the OECD which launched this stone in the pond with a study published last week. These basic knowledge gaps significantly limit people’s quality of life. At the same time, people are at increased risk of poverty as they struggle to keep up with job demands. They are trapped in the vicious circle of precariousness.
The Social Almanac 2025 shows that the lack of education and training is one of the major obstacles to escaping poverty. This lack of training is not due to the people concerned themselves, it is due to a structural problem. Thus, the absence of funding adapted to needs and adequate offers makes access to initial and continuing training very unequal. In addition, employers encourage highly qualified people to take continuing education courses much more than those who have gaps in their basic training. People with few financial resources and low qualifications are therefore significantly less likely to be able to pursue continuing education. Result: in Switzerland, despite many positive initiatives, social barriers remain difficult to overcome through training.
“It is urgent that Switzerland opens up perspectives and offers opportunities to people who are worn down by their daily struggle for existence,” writes Aline Masé, poverty specialist at Caritas, in her report published in the social almanac. “The Confederation, the cantons and the municipalities do not sufficiently assume their responsibility in preventing and combating poverty.” A glimmer of hope appeared this fall when Parliament tasked the Federal Council with developing a national strategy fight against poverty.
Almanach social 2025
Training: solution or illusion against poverty? This is the title of the Social Almanac 2025 from Caritas Switzerland which has just been published. 17 contributions from experts dissect the reasons why training and education play a key role in the fight against poverty and show possible ways so that people with few financial means can better train and improve their skills. The issue of digitalization and digital skills receives particular attention. The Caritas directory on the social situation in Switzerland can be obtained here: www.caritas.ch/fr/almanach-social-2025
Contact:
Report on social and economic developments in Switzerland 2023/2024, by Aline Masé, head of the social policy department, Caritas Switzerland, download here: https://www.caritas.ch/fr/almanach-social-2025 /
For questions from the media or requests for press copies of the almanac: Fabrice Boulé, communications manager for French-speaking Switzerland, [email protected], tel. : 041 419 23 36
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