Saint(Government Lucia of Saint Lucia 2015) National Report of Living Conditions 2016 ember 2018 Final Report Dec 1 Saint Lucia National Report of Living Conditions 2016 Final Report Submitted to: Dr. Gale Archibald Head of the Statistical Services Unit OECS Commission Enhanced Country Poverty Assessment Project Submitted by: Kairi Consultants Limited 14 Cochrane Street, Tunapuna, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO Tel: 1 868-663-2677; Fax: 1-868-663-1442 Email: [email protected] 7 December, 2018 Table of Contents List of Tables ........................................................................................................................ v List of Figures ....................................................................................................................... ix List of Acronyms and Abbreviations .................................................................................... xiii Executive Summary ............................................................................................................. xv 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background and objectives ..................................................................................... 1 1.2 Specific terms of reference ..................................................................................... 1 1.3 Limitations and constraints ...................................................................................... 2 1.4 Structure of the Report ............................................................................................ 3 2 Macro Socioeconomic Context ....................................................................................... 4 2.1 Backdrop ................................................................................................................ 4 2.2 Legal framework/international accords/social justice and human rights ................... 4 2.3 Economic performance ........................................................................................... 5 2.3.1 International context......................................................................................... 5 2.3.2 Regional context .............................................................................................. 6 2.3.3 Domestic context ............................................................................................. 8 2.3.4 Trends in the Real Sector .............................................................................. 10 2.4 Fiscal operations ................................................................................................... 21 2.5 Public Sector Debt ................................................................................................ 23 2.6 Trade agreements and other treaties .................................................................... 26 2.7 Governance structures .......................................................................................... 27 2.8 Social context ....................................................................................................... 27 2.9 Environment.......................................................................................................... 28 2.9.1 The role of natural resources in the economy ................................................ 28 2.9.2 Linking Living Conditions and Environment Concerns .................................... 29 2.9.3 Climate change and natural disasters ............................................................ 30 2.10 Assessment of Prevalent Poverty Reduction Strategies ........................................ 31 3 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 33 3.1 Survey of Living Conditions and Household Budgetary Survey (SLC-HBS) .......... 33 3.2 Monetary Poverty Measurement ........................................................................... 34 3.2.1 Defining poverty ............................................................................................. 34 3.2.2 Constructing the monetary poverty line .......................................................... 35 3.2.3 Changes in Methodology between the 2016 SLC-HBS and the 2006 SLC-HBS 2006 36 3.2.4 Computing key poverty indicators .................................................................. 37 i 3.3 Multidimensional Poverty Measurement ................................................................ 40 3.3.1 Application of Multidimensional Poverty Measurement to the Survey of Living Conditions for Saint Lucia ............................................................................................ 41 3.3.2 Relationship between The Labour Force Survey MPI and the SLC-HBS MPI 42 3.3.3 The SLC-HBS MPI ......................................................................................... 42 3.3.4 Dimensions of the SLC-HBS MPI ................................................................... 44 4 Key Poverty and Inequality Indicators .......................................................................... 47 4.1 Population Profile .................................................................................................. 47 4.2 Monetary Poverty and Inequality Measures .......................................................... 49 4.2.1 Poverty rate ................................................................................................... 49 4.2.2 Poverty Gap, Poverty Severity and Gini Coefficient of Inequality ................... 54 4.2.3 Geographic Distribution of Poverty ................................................................. 59 4.2.4 International poverty lines .............................................................................. 60 4.2.5 Demographic distribution of poverty ............................................................... 60 4.3 Multidimensional Poverty Measures ...................................................................... 65 4.3.1 Multidimensional Poverty Measures from the Labour Force Survey ............... 65 4.3.2 Multidimensional Poverty Measures from the Survey of Living Conditions and Household Budget ....................................................................................................... 71 4.4 Modelling Poverty - The Risk of Being Poor .......................................................... 80 4.4.1 Interpretation of the results from the model .................................................... 80 5 Child Poverty ............................................................................................................... 82 5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 82 5.2 Child Poverty In Saint Lucia In 2016 And Change Since 2006 .............................. 82 5.3 Child Age Groups ................................................................................................. 84 5.4 Child Poverty in Urban And Rural Areas ............................................................... 85 5.5 Child Poverty And Sex Of Head Of Household ..................................................... 85 5.6 Child Poverty By Number Of Children In Household ............................................. 87 5.7 Child Poverty and Household Structure ................................................................ 90 5.8 Poor Children And The School Feeding Programme ............................................. 92 5.9 Children and the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index ................................................ 94 5.10 Key Findings ......................................................................................................... 95 5.11 Policy Implications ................................................................................................ 96 6 Labour and Employment .............................................................................................. 98 6.1 The Labour Market................................................................................................ 98 6.2 Labour force participation.................................................................................... 120 6.3 Unemployment in Focus ..................................................................................... 124 6.4 Industry and Occupational Differences ................................................................ 129 6.5 The working poor ................................................................................................ 133 ii 6.5.1 Where are the working poor located? .......................................................... 133 6.6 Income from employment .................................................................................... 137 6.7 Access to income from all sources ...................................................................... 137 7 Education ................................................................................................................... 138 7.1 Overview of the Education System ..................................................................... 138 7.1.1 Structure of the Education System ............................................................... 138 7.1.2 Financing of Education ................................................................................ 143 7.2 Educational attainment among the working age population ................................. 146 7.3 Highest level