Similar to findings in previous RTM waves, many respondents support more government intervention in the area of social protection. RTM also sheds light on how respondents prioritise government intervention, both for urgent challenges and for more long-term investments by policy area.
When asked to think about urgent challenges faced by their countries today, a majority of RTM respondents thought governments should give a greater priority to helping people deal with the 2022 cost-of-living crisis (Figure 3.6). 73% of respondents reported that they think their government should prioritise “helping people deal with rising costs of living” more or much more in the coming year. Similarly, respondents also think that their government should prioritise supporting vulnerable older people and low-income people, groups which will have been disproportionately affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
Climate change is also seen as a high-priority policy area in the “current events module”, with 59% of respondents calling for government to prioritise the issue, on average across countries. By contrast, issues that are directly related to the COVID‑19 crisis, including addressing its longer-run mental and physical health effects, and helping parents adapt to their children’s fluctuating school and childcare situations, are prioritised less (not included in the figure).
Countries where higher proportions of respondents want the government to do more to ensure their household’s social and economic security and well-being also tend to be countries with higher proportions of respondents concerned about paying for essentials (food, housing, energy, and paying down debt) (Figure 3.7). Similarly, in 2022 more respondents were worried about costs of living in countries where the social safety net has historically been weaker.
When prioritising different policy areas, health services, old-age pensions and long-term care services for older people stand out as areas in which respondents would like to improve provision and access to services (Figure 3.8). Specifically, 43% of respondents would prioritise health services, 37% would prioritise old-age pensions, and 30% would prioritise long-term services for older people when financing improved provision and access through an additional 2% of their income in additional taxes. Improved access to health services remains the most selected policy area, with a majority of respondents reporting that they are willing to forgo 2% of their income for better healthcare in five countries: Chile, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.
The support for additional investments in the pensions system is even relatively large in countries that show little support for further investments in other social policy areas, such as Switzerland, Germany and Lithuania. In Switzerland, the special focus on old-age pensions in RTM corresponds with relatively large income gaps in poverty rates among those aged 65 and over and working-age people. Indeed, in Switzerland, 46% of respondents report being willing to pay an additional 2% of their income for better old-age pension provision, which is on par with support in Greece (46%), and only lower than support in two other RTM countries: Chile (51%) and Slovenia (48%) (Figure 3.8).
