From BZ/epd
The new Youth Poverty Monitor warns that the situation for children and young people from poor households is aggravated by the current crises. These young people would be left behind in many areas such as training and digital participation.
Around a quarter of all young people under the age of 25 in Germany are at risk of poverty. In 2021 there were 4.17 million young people, according to the “Monitor youth poverty in Germany 2022” presented in Berlin on Wednesday by the Federal Working Group for Catholic Youth Social Work (BAG KJS). The basis of the monitor, which has been published every other year since 2010, is the evaluation and compilation of surveys.
Children and young people from families with more than three children (26.6 percent) or from single-parent households (23.6 percent) are most frequently affected. This puts them well above the average poverty rate of 16.6 percent. Children from households that are not Hartz IV recipients are also increasingly threatened by youth poverty. Their number rose within ten years from 22 percent in 2011 to 36 percent in 2021.
Big problem: can’t keep up digitally
The crises of the past few months have exacerbated this situation, said the CEO of BAG, Stefan Ottersbach: “In view of the current developments, 68 percent of young people worry that they will have to live with their families in poverty, that they can no longer afford housing and the cost of living to be able to.”
According to Ottersbach, a major problem is digital poverty, which is closely linked to poorer educational opportunities. Youth culture and education in particular have become significantly more digital after Corona. “It’s a problem for people who can’t keep up there financially,” he said.
According to the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, digital skills are 17 percent lower in ninth graders if their parents are unemployed. “Homeschooling is good – if you have enough digital access devices and sufficient data volume,” said Ottersbach. Young people affected by poverty often had neither one nor the other. At the same time, paid services on the Internet (paywalls, Pay2Win) would increase and consequently exclude less well-off young people.
Young people from poor households also have poorer starting conditions when looking for training. Supply and demand for training places are often distributed differently locally, Ottersbach said: “But how can you start training in a distant place if you can’t afford the rent there?” Many young people affected by poverty started their careers from the bottom places . According to the Federal Statistical Office, technical students had to pay an average of 68 percent of their student loans for a shared room.
Young people need a functioning housing market, good education and a booming job market, said financial expert and author Maurice Höfgen. What Germany cannot afford is not giving young people a good education as an investment in the future: “The stupidest thing an aging society can do is let young people go to the dogs. We’re sawing off the branch we’re sitting on,” says Höfgen.