It is an observation without surprises. The poorest inhabitants of France suffered the greatest deterioration in their financial situation during the first confinement, in spring 2020, with marked differences according to the territories, reported Insee, Thursday, April 8.
According to the study by the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, “Among the 10% of the most modest households, 35% perceived a deterioration of their financial situation during the first confinement”, against only 15.5% of households among the richest 10%. In addition, “The financial situation has deteriorated more often in the departments where recourse to partial or total technical unemployment is more frequent between mid-March and May”, found INSEE.
Seine-Saint-Denis, the most affected department
It is in Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department in France, that the deterioration of the financial situation is felt by the most important part of the population (34%, against 23% on the national average). More generally, Ile-de-France, Hauts-de-France, the south-east of the country and the West Indies have suffered more than average. In the South-East, the degradation is stronger than the average in the departments “Where tourism is particularly important in the local economy”, as is the case in the Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Vaucluse and Hautes-Alpes, but also in Bouches-du-Rhône where a high proportion of the population belongs to the poorest 10% of French people.
Conversely, Orne and Finistère in particular, with at most 17% of degraded financial situations, are the departments least affected by the economic repercussions of the first confinement, as are the regions of Brittany in general, Pays de la Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté as well as the departments of Auvergne. Furthermore, “In the departments where the proportion of retirees is higher, the financial situation of the inhabitants has generally deteriorated less often than on the national average”, a situation which concerns in particular the Orne, the Hautes-Pyrénées, the Côtes-d’Armor or even the Aveyron.
In the Paris region, “The massive use of exclusive teleworking was able to limit the drop in income” in the affluent departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Yvelines and in inner Paris, a situation “Different from the eastern Paris region” (Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Seine-et-Marne). At the national level, the share of recourse to exclusive teleworking varied enormously according to the departments, ranging from only 8% in Orne to 65% in intramural Paris. Finally, notes INSEE, the financial consequences of the crisis generally appear to be “Little related to the health situation” of each department.