According to the social association VdK, seniors in Bavaria are most at risk of poverty in Germany. 21.8 percent of people aged 65 and over in the Free State were at risk of poverty last year, said the President of the VdK Bavaria, Verena Bentele, at the annual press conference on Wednesday in Munich. Nationwide it was 17.5 percent.
Older women in Bavaria have a particularly high risk of poverty. Their share was even 24.5 percent. The white and blue idyll that the Bavarian state government likes to paint also has its gray sides, said Bentele.
She criticized the state government above all for its Federal Council initiative passed on Tuesday for a fundamental reform of citizens’ money. She is stunned by how condescendingly people with little money and poor prospects are spoken of. They are treated with fundamental mistrust.
The state government’s mantra is: “Work must be worth it.” She underlines this at all times, said Bentele. But: “Work is worth it when it’s well paid.” Here she sees some catching up to do in Bavaria. Because: Around 1.1 million jobs in the Free State are below the threshold of 12.50 euros, said Bentele. In order to increase the gap between wages and citizens’ money, citizens’ money should not be reduced, but rather the minimum wage must be raised to at least 14 euros.
The low wage swamp could also be dried up if there were a collective bargaining law in Bavaria, Bentele said. If work were paid better, then not so many working people would have to receive citizen’s benefit to top up their income.
On Tuesday after the cabinet meeting, Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf justified the Federal Council’s initiative for a citizen’s benefit reform by saying that social benefits create false incentives. According to the ministry, around 445,500 people in Bavaria are currently receiving citizens’ benefit.