Despite declining poverty levels, many Jamaicans continue to live in deplorable conditions.
POVERTY LEVELS across the island improved slightly in 2003, shifting from 19.7 per cent in 2002 to 19.1 per cent, according to the latest edition of the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (JSLC).
The JSLC is jointly published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN).
Yesterday it was reported that the 2002 Survey of Living Conditions Parish Report pointed to a decrease in poverty from 35.2 per cent in 1992. However, the 2002 statistics also registered an increase in poverty from 16.1 per cent in 1998.
But despite the slight economic improvement recorded over the 2003 period, the latest report noted a decline in the real national per capita consumption, or the average value of a single consumer's purchases, over the same period.
"At constant (1990) prices, mean per capita consumption declined by 2.2 per cent compared with 2002, to reach $8,758," the report said. The 'real' value of income is calculated at the value of income in 1990.
At 2003 prices, average per capita consumption was measured at $88,062, an increase of 4.5 per cent over 2002.
According to the survey, the apparent paradox between the decline in average per capita consumption and the absence of poverty deterioration should be viewed in the context of a number of developments.
AMONG THESE DEVELOPMENTS ARE:
- A reduction in the degree of consumption inequality, with the poorest groups registering the largest relative gains.
- Real GDP (and associated factor income) growth heavily influenced by growth in the agriculture and tourism sectors, both of which are relatively labour intensive and, to a large extent, rural-based where poverty is most prevalent.
- Continued growth in private remittances from abroad, which is relatively more important to the poor as a coping mechanism than it is to wealthier groups.
- An increase in the tax burden, a significant share of which would be borne by the PAYE pool, which presumably does not have a high concentration of the poor.
- Existence of improved social safety net system.
