“Increased social inequality is manifesting itself everywhere as a result of the corona pandemic,” said the University of Bremen in a study on the effects of the virus on social life. One of the consequences of this is a demand by the left to ask the rich to pay more.
Wages, assets, education, health – the Corona crisis has hit Hamburg harder than other countries. This is confirmed by a report by the University of Bremen on behalf of the Hamburg Left Parliamentary Group. She calls for a comprehensive package of measures and wants to ask the rich to pay.
“Everywhere there is increasing social inequality as a result of the corona pandemic,” says social scientist René Böhme from the University of Bremen.
“At the federal state level, Hamburg is particularly badly affected by many of the consequences that have been recorded so far.” For the report, Böhme analyzed the available data and interviewed experts.
More benefit recipients in Hamburg
Here are some results: “The lower income groups have seen significant losses in their wages – between 5 percent for semi-skilled and 10 percent for unskilled”, says Böhme. The upper performance groups such as executives even had gains.
Compared to the national trend, this inequality in Hamburg is above average. Böhme also points out that the mountain of public debt is growing, but so is private wealth.
Health and Education in the Pandemic
The health of people on low incomes was more severely affected by the pandemic. In the Hamburg districts with a high rate of SGB II recipients: according to the analysis, there was also a higher incidence inside.
The social scientist divides the districts into groups so that no individual assignment is possible. However, he highlights Billstedt, Wilhelmsburg, Jenfeld and Veddel as particularly affected.
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The pandemic is also making itself felt on the Hamburg training market. According to the report, around 13.5 percent fewer apprenticeship contracts were concluded in 2020 than in 2019. In Hamburg, the number fell the most in a comparison of the federal states.
Why is Hamburg more affected?
Why is Hamburg more affected by the pandemic in many places? Boehme’s thesis: densely populated regions, in which the economic structure is more dependent on private tourism and business travel at the same time, are more severely affected.
According to the survey of the experts, the aid packages have absorbed a sharp rise in inequality. However, it has also been criticized that the issues of “gender inequality” and “educational inequality” have not yet been well represented in the aids.
Leftists want to ask the rich to pay
“It took a long time for the Senate to recognize that the crisis does not affect everyone equally,” says the left-wing parliamentary group leader Cansu Özdemir. The group therefore commissioned this report. She is now calling for comprehensive measures, which she also wants to introduce into the citizenship with applications.
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Among other things, the list of demands includes an inter-agency “anti-poverty strategy”, the expansion of the district health centers, a free breakfast in schools and daycare centers and many other ideas. How should that be financed? “The rich have to be asked to pay,” says Stephanie Rose, social policy spokeswoman for the left-wing parliamentary group. “We are demanding a property levy and the reintroduction of the property tax.”
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