Pobreza y familia¿son los jóvenes una carga o una ayuda?

Resumen

In the last few years in Spain we have observed a marked increase in the extent that young people are dependent on their families in a context of high rates of junenile unemployment and casualisation. In this article we examine economic hardship amongst young people and their families in Spain during the nineties. In particular, we analyze what impact the main provider's and the young person's labour market situation has on the family'seconomic welfare and, more specifically, on the probability of the household being poor or not, and how these affect the time that the household remains below the poverty line. On the one hand, the presence of youngsters in the home would be a financial burden for the family, as the majority of young people rearching the age of 18 do not leave the home and could be regarded as "dependent" on their families. On the other hand, if the young people who stay at home work, they may contribute towards enhanced family welfare through helping to forestall poverty, especially in low income households. The results presented show the importance of the family cushion as a cornerstone in the prevention ofpoverty, a family protection system that works not only in the direction of parents towards children, but also from young people towards their families, particularly in low income households.