Saturday 20th March 2021
Crisis exacerbates inequality
"Economy" warns of division
The corona pandemic hits the population differently. According to the economic experts Veronika Grimm, low-wage earners are among the biggest losers. On the other hand, wealthy people were able to save a lot of money overall.
The "economy" Veronika Grimm has warned of the danger of social divisions. "The lower income groups are among the biggest losers in the Corona crisis, in many ways," said Grimm. "Survey data show that on average they had to accept losses more than the middle and upper income groups. On the other hand, many mini-jobs have dropped out, which could be one of the reasons for these losses," said Grimm. "In addition, many people in the lower income brackets work in professions that are now exposed to particular stress, such as in health care or in the open supermarkets."
The children in homeschooling are often left on their own when their parents have to work and are not at home. "We have to do a lot more to ensure that there are not too great a learning gap and that learning backlogs that have already arisen are reduced. It must be ensured that students are adequately supervised," says Grimm. "Resources have to be made available, for example if there are problems with IT or if other support is needed. Today's students are tomorrow's professionals."
Grimm is a member of the Advisory Council and Professor of Economics at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. In view of the ongoing Corona crisis, the "economic wise men" recently lowered their economic forecast for 2021.
A lot of money saved
One consequence of the pandemic is that the savings rate has increased enormously. "Many have canceled their vacation trips, could not go to the theater or cinema," said Grimm. "Much of what has not happened now cannot be made up immediately. People now have a lot of money in their pockets. But they don't go to restaurants twice as often, when that is possible again, or drive twice or three times as much often on vacation. "
That is one reason why these savings should not be reduced so quickly. "Most of the savings also take place in the higher income groups and are likely to change over to long-term savings if consumption is largely based on monthly income."
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