One in two Portuguese people currently employed feels that their salary does not cover all their expenses, according to the first European Barometer on Poverty and Precarity, released today.
The study report carried out by the company Ipsos stated that the situation of European workers is “very worrying, especially in Portugal and Serbia”.
“Having a job does not necessarily mean being able to survive financially”, wrote the study’s author, Etienne Mercier, in a statement, highlighting that this situation affects more than a third (36%) of European workers.
The study, commissioned by the French non-governmental organization Secours Populaire Français, interviewed ten thousand individuals, aged 18 or over, in ten countries (Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, United Kingdom, Moldova, Portugal, Romania and Serbia).
Almost three in ten Europeans, including 49% of Greeks, said they find themselves in a precarious situation, which leads them to forgo certain needs, such as eating enough or heating their homes, the barometer warned.
Due to a “difficult financial situation”, 62% of Europeans have already restricted their travel and 46% have given up heating their homes in winter, despite the cold.
Furthermore, 38% of respondents do not eat three meals a day, 39% have stopped buying meat to save money and 10% turn to charitable associations to obtain food.
The situation has “slightly improved” compared to last year in countries most heavily affected by inflation, such as Greece, but remains “very worrying” in all countries covered by the investigation, Secours Populaire Français said.
On the other hand, the barometer highlights that 76% of Europeans said they were prepared to get personally involved in helping people living in poverty.
A number that is “particularly high in countries where social difficulties are more common: Greece, Portugal and Serbia”, with 84%, said the report.