Malaysia's poverty line has been revised to RM2,208 from RM980, the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) said. The poverty line, based on the basic requirements for a household to live healthily and actively, is according to 2019 methodology, the department said
MALAYSIA’S Poverty Line Income (PLI) has been revised to RM2,208, according to the calculations based on the 2019 methodology, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Previously, the PLI was calculated according to the 2005 methodology, which benchmarked poverty at RM980, based on the basic requirements for a household to live healthily and actively.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the PLI revision was in accordance with current needs that emphasise optimal food intake and quality non-food basic requirements.
“Moreover, the classification of households into ten categories based on ten percentiles and Household Disposable Income that can be used as one of the preferred measures in the analysis of income distribution and the alternative in measuring poverty, namely Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and Relative Poverty, are also available,” he said.
He said this in a statement on the Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report and the Household Expenditure Survey Report Malaysia, 2019 released today.
Mohd Uzir said the incidence of absolute poverty improved from 7.6 per cent in 2016 to 5.6 per cent in 2019 and the hardcore poverty was at 0.4 per cent in 2019 as compared to 0.6 per cent in 2016.
In addition, the Gini coefficient increased by 0.008 index points from 0.399 (2016) to 0.407 (2019) which shows that the household income gap is widening.
However, based on disposable income, the Gini coefficient was at 0.393.
Meanwhile, he said the median income grew moderately at 3.9 per cent per year to RM5,873 in 2019, while the mean income increased by 4.2 per cent per year to RM7,901.
Seven states had median income above the national level, while three Federal states, Selangor and Johor recorded mean income higher than the national level of RM7,901.
The mean household expenditure, meanwhile, expanded by 3.9 per cent in 2019.
Mohd Uzir said the Household Expenditure Survey showed that demand for the services sector by households is increasing with the composition for services component increased to 52.1 per cent in 2019.
The patterns of household consumption expenditure remained, whereby main groups of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (23.6 per cent); food and non-alcoholic beverages (17.3 per cent); restaurants and hotels (13.9 per cent) and transport (13.5 per cent) made up the four groups with the highest expenditure at 68.3 per cent of total household expenditure in Malaysia in 2019.
In line with the nation development, the composition of expenditure for health and education recorded an increase of 0.2 percentage points each in 2019.
The expenditure on communication remained unchanged at 5.0 per cent, while the other main groups towards the consumer-preferred expenditure also increased.
The expenditure on recreation services & culture edged up by 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively, while furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance increased by 0.2 percentage points.
BERNAMA
MTUC lauds new poverty line at RM2,208
MALAYSIA’S Poverty Line Income (PLI) has been revised to RM2,208, according to the calculations based on the 2019 methodology, said the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM).
Previously, the PLI was calculated according to the 2005 methodology, which benchmarked poverty at RM980, based on the basic requirements for a household to live healthily and actively.
Chief statistician Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Uzir Mahidin said the PLI revision was in accordance with current needs that emphasise optimal food intake and quality non-food basic requirements.
“Moreover, the classification of households into ten categories based on ten percentiles and Household Disposable Income that can be used as one of the preferred measures in the analysis of income distribution and the alternative in measuring poverty, namely Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and Relative Poverty, are also available,” he said.
He said this in a statement on the Household Income and Basic Amenities Survey Report and the Household Expenditure Survey Report Malaysia, 2019 released today.
Mohd Uzir said the incidence of absolute poverty improved from 7.6 per cent in 2016 to 5.6 per cent in 2019 and the hardcore poverty was at 0.4 per cent in 2019 as compared to 0.6 per cent in 2016.
In addition, the Gini coefficient increased by 0.008 index points from 0.399 (2016) to 0.407 (2019) which shows that the household income gap is widening.
However, based on disposable income, the Gini coefficient was at 0.393.
Meanwhile, he said the median income grew moderately at 3.9 per cent per year to RM5,873 in 2019, while the mean income increased by 4.2 per cent per year to RM7,901.
Seven states had median income above the national level, while three Federal states, Selangor and Johor recorded mean income higher than the national level of RM7,901.
The mean household expenditure, meanwhile, expanded by 3.9 per cent in 2019.
Mohd Uzir said the Household Expenditure Survey showed that demand for the services sector by households is increasing with the composition for services component increased to 52.1 per cent in 2019.
The patterns of household consumption expenditure remained, whereby main groups of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (23.6 per cent); food and non-alcoholic beverages (17.3 per cent); restaurants and hotels (13.9 per cent) and transport (13.5 per cent) made up the four groups with the highest expenditure at 68.3 per cent of total household expenditure in Malaysia in 2019.
In line with the nation development, the composition of expenditure for health and education recorded an increase of 0.2 percentage points each in 2019.
The expenditure on communication remained unchanged at 5.0 per cent, while the other main groups towards the consumer-preferred expenditure also increased.
The expenditure on recreation services & culture edged up by 0.3 and 0.1 percentage points, respectively, while furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance increased by 0.2 percentage points.
BERNAMA
MTUC lauds new poverty line at RM2,208
11/07/2020 03:11 PM
KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 -- The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) welcomes the government’s decision to revise the national poverty line index (PLI) substantially from a monthly household income of RM980 to RM2,208.
In a statement, MTUC secretary-general J. Solomon congratulated Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed for their firm political will in taking the bold step to recalibrate the poverty index of the country to a much more realistic level.
“MTUC believes the government will agree that the new national poverty index of RM2,208 can be further improved, considering the benchmark is for a family of four to live actively and healthily.
“This is to cater to the high cost of living in urban areas where 75 per cent of Malaysians are employed, with many of them on low paying jobs while saddled with high household debts due to the spiralling cost of living,” he said.
According to the statement, the revised national PLI puts the country’s poverty rate at a more realistic 5.6 per cent.
“We are happy that there are enough voices of reason within Putrajaya to make these important adjustments as the 0.4 per cent poverty rate which stood previously was based on an anarchic methodology of calculation which failed to capture the gravity of the problem,” he said.
Solomon said the new benchmark for poverty was considerably less than the RM2,700 monthly income MTUC had been urging the government to fix as the minimum living wage especially in urban areas.
Nevertheless, he said establishing a new PLI index at more than double the monthly income set previously, bodes well for government’s pledge to tackle poverty with more realistic data.
He said it was very important as poverty had increasingly impacted Malaysia’s 15 million workforce over the years and more so now due to the economic fallout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the statement, MTUC also hoped that the establishment of a new PLI will bring forth effective public policies which would create jobs and enable workers to have better wages, more disposable income and increase their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings for retirement.
“MTUC calls on the relevant ministries and public agencies to give top priority to Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed’s call that they pay heed to the 2019 PLI in reviewing and formulating policies related to poverty eradication and social assistance.
“We agree with the minister that only by using accurate statistics, the government would be able to formulate the right strategies and policies especially in drawing up the 12th Malaysia Plan,” he added.
Solomon said, with the new PLI set at RM2,208, the government must now acknowledge that the minimum wage of RM1,100 to RM1,200 especially for urban areas was not realistic nor tandem with the cost of living.
MTUC also urged the government to revisit the low minimum wage and bring it on par to the living wage proposed by Bank Negara Malaysia.
-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, July 11 -- The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) welcomes the government’s decision to revise the national poverty line index (PLI) substantially from a monthly household income of RM980 to RM2,208.
In a statement, MTUC secretary-general J. Solomon congratulated Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed for their firm political will in taking the bold step to recalibrate the poverty index of the country to a much more realistic level.
“MTUC believes the government will agree that the new national poverty index of RM2,208 can be further improved, considering the benchmark is for a family of four to live actively and healthily.
“This is to cater to the high cost of living in urban areas where 75 per cent of Malaysians are employed, with many of them on low paying jobs while saddled with high household debts due to the spiralling cost of living,” he said.
According to the statement, the revised national PLI puts the country’s poverty rate at a more realistic 5.6 per cent.
“We are happy that there are enough voices of reason within Putrajaya to make these important adjustments as the 0.4 per cent poverty rate which stood previously was based on an anarchic methodology of calculation which failed to capture the gravity of the problem,” he said.
Solomon said the new benchmark for poverty was considerably less than the RM2,700 monthly income MTUC had been urging the government to fix as the minimum living wage especially in urban areas.
Nevertheless, he said establishing a new PLI index at more than double the monthly income set previously, bodes well for government’s pledge to tackle poverty with more realistic data.
He said it was very important as poverty had increasingly impacted Malaysia’s 15 million workforce over the years and more so now due to the economic fallout as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the statement, MTUC also hoped that the establishment of a new PLI will bring forth effective public policies which would create jobs and enable workers to have better wages, more disposable income and increase their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings for retirement.
“MTUC calls on the relevant ministries and public agencies to give top priority to Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed’s call that they pay heed to the 2019 PLI in reviewing and formulating policies related to poverty eradication and social assistance.
“We agree with the minister that only by using accurate statistics, the government would be able to formulate the right strategies and policies especially in drawing up the 12th Malaysia Plan,” he added.
Solomon said, with the new PLI set at RM2,208, the government must now acknowledge that the minimum wage of RM1,100 to RM1,200 especially for urban areas was not realistic nor tandem with the cost of living.
MTUC also urged the government to revisit the low minimum wage and bring it on par to the living wage proposed by Bank Negara Malaysia.
-- BERNAMA
