The number of Portugal’s households with an income of under €10,000 has soared to 33% in under 2 years.
The 2010 figures were bad enough with 2.28 million families earning less than €715 gross per month, taking a year to have 14 payment months, but in 2012 there were 3.04 million families struggling by with low incomes and ever rising domestic bills, topped by VAT increases.
Back in 2010, 753,000 households in Portugal earned the equivalent of 50% of the EU average wage. In 2012, the rise to 66% of households earning below this threshold reflects wage pressure and the dramatic rise in unemployment as the austerity programme bit into all business sectors.
This shift in the economy to a subsistence lifestyle for many of its voters will not be good news for the current coalition government despite its delight in the lowering of wages which accords with its pledge to a Troika which views lower wages as giving Portuguse companies a competitive edge for the country’s exports.
The division between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' is no long-term solution for a robust and healthy economy. The social disharmony created by the growth of this economic underclass may shift this section of the electorate away from the callous brand of conservatism that the government and its lenders have been adhering to.
