The crisis caused by the coronavirus has had a direct impact on the economy of half of the large families: 45% of them have had their work or economic situation affected by the pandemic and 55% have suffered a reduction in income.
This is one of the main conclusions of the study carried out by the Spanish Federation of Large Families (FEFN) with the support of the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare and the participation of the GAD3 demoscopic company, to know the impact of the crisis on the large families. The study was based on more than 4,000 surveys carried out on large families throughout Spain, in relation to their economic and employment situation before and after the pandemic declared, in addition to other issues related to the crisis, such as conciliation, aid to who have accessed or how they have experienced their own illness and confinement.
Income reduction
In terms of employment, the Covid-19 crisis has affected a high percentage of families. Although 4 out of 10 have been able to continue working without problems, the rest have suffered some type of labor measure that has resulted in a reduction in their income. Specifically, 16% of these households have suffered an ERTE (temporary dismissal from the job financially covered by the Government) and 14% have had their income cut due to the situation of their company; the same as 4.8% of families, who have also seen their payroll reduced, in their case due to shorter working hours. Worse situation has had 4.7% of these households that have been unemployed in the midst of the crisis and another 5%, who have had to close their business due to the pandemic.
In general terms, half of large families (55%) have been affected economically or labor by the Covid-19 crisis, but very few have been able to count on government aid: 42% of families didn’t need apply for them, but in the other 58% only 15% have been able to count with any of the extraordinary measures approved by the Government, while a third (33.3%) have been left out of aid for not complying with the requirements (22.2%) or for exceeding the income limit established for access to benefits (12.1%).
According to the FEFN, “these data reveal a reality that we have been denouncing since the first measures were approved by the Government, and that is that when establishing access criteria, the reality of these homes is not usually taken into account; tGovernment don’t think about their size and their needs and they set income limits that are too low for a family that has a minimum of 3 children, so a majority of these households are always out of aid, “explains José Manuel Trigo , acting president of the Spanish Federation of Large Families.
