If the decade that has just begun, and it did not start at all well with covid-19, is as sad and melancholy as the first two decades of this century, the conditions will be created for a tragedy of profound inequality, that is, for us to see the worsening of the stigma of intergenerational inequality.
Demography will be against us with the accelerated aging of the population, climate change will be against us, the effects of the pandemic are yet to be determined, the economy needs to recover and we do not know if it will continue to show very low average growth rates over the decade , the poverty threshold will be reached by many Portuguese in long-term unemployment, inactivity, pre-retirement and retirement.
Let's see how this tragedy and this stigma can manifest themselves:
1. The impacts of climate change change our concept of well-being
Climate change, due to its profound effects, forces us to revise our usual concept of well-being. Furthermore, due to the great inertia of climate change, the problems will only be resolved in the medium and long term.
Until then, it is a question of remediating and mitigating a serious public health problem that greatly affects the older population strata. Let's hear about mobility and climate-related refugees. It's the first big inequality.
2. The effects of the pandemic affect habitual sociability relationships
The post-pandemic effects of covid-19 are yet to be ascertained and it is very likely that the circulation of this virus will turn into a chronic disease with multiple mutations.
If so, we will not only have to change the rules of social etiquette, but also our usual sociability relationships. And nothing will ever be the same, with a profound impact on the elderly population, in particular, on the state of their mental health. It's the second big inequality.
3. Housing degradation increases with climate change
Climate change, in particular global warming, but also its more severe occurrences, will have a very strong impact on the living conditions of the most disadvantaged population, who generally live in poorly maintained housing and slums. It is the third major inequality.
4. Socio-labour disqualification increases with digital illiteracy
Labor markets are evolving very rapidly towards a progressive dematerialization of work and production processes and procedures, in particular the industrial manufacturing methods of the more conventional and standardized industry.
Older workers in these industrial sectors will be the first to be reached by the digital transformation process. Labor disqualification is accentuated with digital illiteracy and a new inequality takes place.
5. Long-term unemployment and inactivity extend in time
Due to their age and low qualifications, these workers enter the long-term unemployed, professional training and even professional inactivity, not to mention sick leave and aggravated family and mental health problems.
Many of them will not have the technical-professional conditions to face the cycle of great transitions, uncertain and insecure. And a new inequality takes place.
6. Low and medium wages are close and with a tendency to stagnate
These same workers, in the last segment of their professional life, are at the lowest level of the salary scale, because in the last twenty years of the XNUMXst century the Portuguese economy grew at such a low rate that it did not correct the inequality in the distribution of income from work. . And so another inequality in Portuguese society feeds.
7. Expectations for pensions are not very bright
The tragedy of deep inequality continues beyond working life, when workers enter the period of retirement and receive their meager income pension.
Low wages mean even lower pensions, and so we are getting closer to the threshold of poverty and merciful help. Inequality deepens to poverty and family and social isolation.
8. Access to differentiated medical care is not guaranteed for everyone
Just look at 2/3 of the national territory and we do not find special medical care there. In other words, the elderly population that lives in remote rural areas and in small towns in the interior accumulate morbidities of all kinds and chronic diseases that are perpetuated, at the precise moment when their incomes are more depleted.
In an emergency, the taxi can replace the ambulance, but anything can happen during a risky journey. It is, once again, the tragedy of deep inequality to manifest itself.
9. Mobility problems accentuate family abandonment and isolation
covid-19 seriously highlighted a long-standing problem, a vicious circle in full operation, namely the closure of some public services, private banking, insurance, medical and passenger transport services and, above all, the breakdown of social ties. of proximity, further isolated small villages and towns, which led to increasing abandonment and isolation of the elderly population, sick and with serious mobility problems, not to mention the absence of family relationships and issues of personal safety. It is one more profound inequality in full operation.
10. Access to means of communication and information is not guaranteed
The chronic illness of the elderly and the associated comorbidities prevent, in practice, access to the means of information and communication. Poor hearing, troubled eyesight, poor mental health are enough reasons to isolate a person from the surrounding world. Take, for example, the crisis of readers in the local and regional press.
And the most serious is that no preventive strategy is envisaged to address the problems of senior society and active aging with the collective responsibility and care they deserve. Here is the ultimate tragedy of deep inequality.
Final Notes
The inequalities mentioned, in their extreme complexity, will not be resolved if they are approached in isolation, especially as poverty, precariousness and disease are transgenerational problems, that is, they bring together families of different generations with similar difficulties.
Furthermore, the major transitions already underway for this decade may not only aggravate these inequalities, but also trigger asymmetrical rebound effects that will put a lot of pressure on the labor markets, the minimum and average remuneration levels of wages and pensions, the living conditions, the supply and quality of public and social services, the quality of active aging programs, primary and continued health care, family care and the quality of outpatient clinic services, access to information and communication, for example, the local press, which is of particular interest to the elderly.
The social consequences of the pandemic are there and give us a serious warning, there are more and more families on the verge of the critical threshold of poverty. And we cannot tolerate such a fatality.
Author António Covas is a Retired Full Professor at the University of Algarve
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