[Jamaica] Poverty at 18-year low, says survey

from The Jamaica Observer

Luke Douglas, Observer writer

Poverty in the Jamaican population dropped by 2.1 percentage points last year to an 18-year low of 14.8 per cent, according to a survey conducted by two state agencies.
The 2005 Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (SLC), conducted between May and November last year, showed that for the decade since 1995, poverty fell by 12.7 percentage points.

Persons are categorised as 'in poverty' when they fall below the poverty line which, according to the latest survey, has been increased to $63,717.17 per year from $58,508.50 in 2004.

The minimum required for a reference family of five (two adults and three children) was $240,816.57 from $221,130.78 the previous year.

The SLC is conducted annually by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica.
However, despite the reported gains, the Government and senior technocrats are expressing concern about the number of people who remain poor
and unemployable.

PIOJ director-general Dr Wesley Hughes said that while poverty levels had fallen from more than 30 per cent in the 1990s, it will be difficult to reduce the levels much more.

"It is very difficult to reduce poverty below 10 per cent because there is a hard core of uneducated, aged. illiterate people who it is very difficult to train at all and give new opportunities in new industries," Dr Hughes said at Wednesday's launch of the survey.

Minister of education and youth Maxine Henry-Wilson concurred, stating that youth unemployment and poverty continue to be problems.

"I am growing increasingly concerned that we are developing a hard core of young people who are becoming unemployable," she said. "I also find it distressing that most of those who are unemployed seem to lack the initiative, the know-how, the determination. there seems to be a bit of distraction around them actually understanding the importance of them making the first step or at least holding our hands as we seek to take them into the labour market."

In addition to the Survey of Living Conditions, a School-to-Work Transition Survey Report, done by the PIOJ in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation, was also launched.

Other findings of the SLC include:

. Mean per capita consumption moved up to $124,174 per annum, an increase of 21.4 per cent over 2004.

. 53.8 per cent households received remittances last year, an increase of 7.6 per cent over 2004.

. The dependency ratio, that is the proportion of the dependent population (children under 15 and the elderly) to the working age group of 15 to 64, had fallen from 100.8 per cent in 1970 to 72.6 per cent now.

"In a sense, life has become easier collectively for the country," Dr Hughes said, but added that the dependency ratio may not fall as rapidly in the future as the population continues to age.

Officials at the launch, including Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies, pointed out that the methodology used to conduct the survey had remained relatively unchanged each year.