Gov’t Implementing Policies to End Absolute Poverty

Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Government will continue to implement policies that will directly impact the lives of Jamaicans and contribute to ending absolute poverty in the country.

Jamaica’s poverty prevalence for 2023 was estimated at 8.2 per cent, a decline from 16.7 per cent in 2021, which represents the lowest figure ever recorded since poverty rates were first measured in 1989.

Addressing Wednesday’s (May 22) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, the Prime Minister said that the massive reduction in Jamaica’s poverty prevalence is “a big deal for all Jamaicans”.

“At eight per cent, we are within striking distance of that. We can end absolute poverty… we want to ensure that we push this poverty prevalence number way, way down and then at that point, we can revise what is the new threshold for somebody to be considered living at or below the poverty line,” he pointed out.

“It is quite doable; it is within our capability to do it, but we must continue with strategic policies. We must continue the training of our young people so that they can continue to work and earn from their labour and talent. We must continue to improve the social services, the access to amenities and we must continue to ensure that our marginalised population is protected by a very effective social safety net,” he added.

As such, he said the revision of the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) initiative is being undertaken to ensure that it is more responsive.

PATH is the most critical arm of the Government’s social protection programme, serving more than 284,000 vulnerable Jamaicans.

Furthermore, Dr. Holness informed that the Solidarity Programme will be rolled out very shortly, to address the needs of vulnerable Jamaicans who are not currently benefiting from existing government initiatives.

“The programme is designed to treat with those persons who have not gotten any of the social benefits. They are not on the social pension; they’re not registered on any of the programmes of PATH; they are not in HEART/NSTA Trust, so we are going to find them and they will get their cash grant.

“We will assist in bringing them into the formal system, and that will have another major impact on addressing poverty by dealing with the exclusion element, in other words, including all the people in the population that we have not yet reached to,” he said.

Dr. Holness further pointed to the steps taken to increase the minimum wage and the earning capacity of the lowest wage earners in the country as well as substantially boosting public-sector wages.

He noted that the increases, as well as the country’s historic low unemployment rate, have put income into households.

“This Administration has been the most focused on treating with the microeconomic elements of poverty, dealing with the social safety net, putting in place things like the social pension… we are now looking at unemployment insurance… giving access to training at HEART and all the programmes that have enabled households to access employment,” the Prime Minister said.

“We have been very instrumental, and I think that has been a critical part of the success of our programme in alleviating and addressing poverty. So, what it means is that there are less persons in Jamaica who could be considered absolutely poor,” he emphasised.