February 16 – According to the latest survey for the food bank conducted by the French CSA research institute, half of the beneficiaries of the French food bank have received assistance for less than a year.
That is to say, the coronavirus epidemic has added a large number of people who have recently fallen into poverty.
According to Figaro, the study published on the 15th pointed out that although unemployment, illness and other reasons for the financial situation of beneficiaries deteriorated, the impact of the coronavirus crisis is obvious, with 12% of the respondents saying that their financial difficulties worsened further during the epidemic.
In the current environment, there is an increasing demand for food aid, and the situation of beneficiaries is also changing. Many of the new beneficiaries are poor employees and young graduates.
When France launched its first lockdown in March 2020, the number of beneficiaries of food aid had increased by 25%.
At the beginning of 2021, France’s beneficiaries had exceeded 2.1 million people, of whom 51% received assistance for less than a year, 21% received assistance for the first time in the last three months, 14% received assistance for the first time in the last three to six months, and 52% of beneficiaries went to food distribution points at least once a week.
The survey also shows that the average age of food aid beneficiaries is 48 years old, of which 70% are women, more than 80% are French, nearly 25% have at least bachelor’s degrees, 27% are unemployed, 17% are retirees, more than 85% have fixed residence, and the average income of beneficiaries is 839 euros per month.
receiving food assistance can save these people an average of 92 euros a month.
French Labor Minister Elizabeth Born announced on the 15th that the monthly subsidy for poor groups up to 900 euros will be extended for three months, and 500,000 people are expected to benefit.
The aid was announced by French Prime Minister Jean Castel at the end of November 2020 to guarantee that employees with unstable employment can earn a net income of 900 euros a month.
The measure was initially announced for four months until February this year.
But Elizabeth Born explained that this special assistance was extended for three months, given the uncertainty of the epidemic situation and the current labor market employment difficulties.
