Jakarta's Poverty Rate Drops by 4.61%, BPS Reports

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported that the poverty rate in the capital decreased by 4.61 percent in September 2022. BPS's statistician Dwi Paramita Dewi said that the number of residents living below the poverty line fell from 502,000 in March 2022 to 494,000 in September 2022.

Dwi explained that it was attributable to a number of macro indicators, including rising economic growth and declining unemployment.

In the third quarter of 2022, Jakarta's economic development reached 5.94 percent or increased compared to the second quarter at 5.62 percent.

The number of unemployed people also plummeted by 63,000 in that period and there were additional 138,000 workers.

Jakarta BPS noted that out of the 4.88 million workers in Jakarta in August last year, 3.08 million of them worked in the formal sector, while the remaining 1.80 million worked in the informal sector.

Even though the inflation rate surged by 2.06 percent in September 2022, the burden of the poor people was lighter and their purchasing power was maintained thanks to social assistance and market operations. Inflation occurred as a consequence of the government's policy on fuel price hikes.

As the number of poor people decreased, the Gini ratio or inequality rate declined. The gap between the income of the rich and the poor was smaller in September 2022 to 0.412 or down 0.011 points from that of March 2022.

The effectiveness of the central and provincial government’s social assistance was considered a success to maintain the real income of the people and prevent vulnerable people from falling into poverty and prevent the emergence of new poor.

The decline in the poverty rate and the inequality rate in Jakarta was the first time to have occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Statistics Indonesia or BPS records the rates twice a year, in March and September.

ANTARA

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