2024-04-01 17:51:23
Affordable housing continues to be the issue that concerns Luxembourg residents most. Nothing new, therefore.
The second biggest current concern is something new: the difference between rich and poor. The gap between the two opposing social classes jumped to second place in the most recent Politmonitor, the survey carried out by Ilres for the Luxembourg word and RTL.
For more than half of those questioned, 56%, the disparity in living standards is one of the biggest current problems in Luxembourg society. Inflation, crisis and increased unemployment affect many residents who have seen their standard of living decrease.
Increased inequalities
For Nora Back, president of the Luxembourg Chamber of Employed Workers (CSL, French acronym), it is no “surprise” that the gap between rich and poor has risen to second place in Politmonitor.
“Inequalities have increased sharply in recent years and we are actually witnessing a degradation of the middle class”, Nora Back tells Contacto.
“The middle class is increasingly poor in Luxembourg”, warns the president of the CSL and the OGBL trade union federation.
Those who earn little in Luxembourg are living “on the edge of their limits”
Impoverished middle class
The impoverishment of the middle class is a “very worrying” situation, warns this leader, which is why she considers it natural that “more and more residents are concerned about this development”.
An evolution that “does not obey a natural law” and, if “there was political will, could be controlled”, highlights Nora Back. In her opinion, measures must be taken to avoid the risk of the disappearance of the middle class and to improve the standard of living of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged families.
The increase in the minimum wage and the adoption of “fairer taxation” are two of the main solutions that political power must adopt to “reduce inequalities” in Luxembourg, claims this leader.
Women are the biggest victims of soaring house prices
Workers at risk of poverty
Although Luxembourg is the richest country in the European Union (EU), it is also one of the countries where workers are at the highest risk of falling into poverty. In fact, the Grand Duchy is the country in which workers with longer hours are most at risk of becoming poor among other EU countries, reveals a Eurostat study.
The increase in the difference in living standards between rich and poor is of particular concern to LSAP (72%) and déi gréng (71%) voters, more than CSV (45%) and DP (41%) respondents. specifies Virgule, based on the Politmonitor survey, cited by Virgule.
Inflation in the country comes in fourth place among residents’ concerns, in Politmonitor, after the increase in trafficking.
2024-04-01 17:51:23