“The support went from covering between 60% to 80% of the poverty threshold in 2010 to about 40% in 2023”, according to the study “The Erosion of the Portuguese Minimum Income Protection Regime,” which highlights a “structural weakening of the main instrument to combat social exclusion” in Portugal.
Researchers concluded that the Social Integration Income (RSI) lost effectiveness due to various legislative changes and periods of austerity: “It never regained the ability to ensure a decent standard of living.”
The study indicates that the RSI has not kept pace with the rising cost of living and wages for years.
The research was conducted by Luís Manso, Renato Miguel Carmo, Maria Clara Oliveira, and Jorge Caleiras and will be presented at a conference taking place today and Thursday in Lisbon.
“We consider it important to produce knowledge based on scientific evidence about a benefit that has been the target of consecutive political and ideological misrepresentations”, says Renato do Carmo, director of the ISCTE Inequality Observatory, as cited in the statement accompanying the release of the study.
The conclusions point to the need for a reformulation of the RSI to restore its role as a “social safety net” and adapt it to the current reality of the labor market and prices.
Among the recommendations are restoring the link to the national minimum wage and creating calculation criteria “more sensitive to family composition” and cost of living variations.
“Families with children benefit from some compensation through supplementary benefits, but the benefit received by parents remains below the poverty line”, the document reads.
The study notes that replacing the minimum wage benchmark with the Social Support Index (IAS), introducing stricter criteria, and redefining the concept of income have cumulatively reduced the support.
“Adding to this is the fact that the number of RSI beneficiaries is at one of the lowest levels ever; we are facing a benefit that has significantly eroded in its ability to meet the basic needs of people living in poverty,” argues Renato do Carmo.
