Lecture 12: Poverty in New Zealand

Question 1

what is absolute poverty?

Answer 1

a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services

Question 2

what is relative poverty?

Answer 2

refers to a standard which is defined in terms of society in which an individual’s lives and which therefore differs between countries and overtime

Question 3

what are the rates of extreme poverty?

Answer 3

extreme poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 1990 but about 689 million people (9.2% of the world’s population) still live on less than $1.90 per day according to World Bank.

Question 4

where are high poverty rates found?

Answer 4

high poverty rates are often found in small, fragile and conflict-affected (war) countries

Question 5

how has covid impacted poverty?

Answer 5

the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed progress in global poverty reduction for the first time in a generation. The total expected rise was about 150 million by the end of 2021.

Question 6

which are the poorest countries in the world?

Answer 6

South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa contribute to 85% of the world’s poor

Question 7

what will the “new poor” due to the effects of covid, conflict and climate be like?

Answer 7

• be more urban than the chronic poor
• be more engaged in informal services and manufacturing and less in agriculture
• live in congested urban settings and work in sectors more affected by lockdowns and mobility restrictions
• middle-income countries such as India and Nigeria will be significantly affected; middle income countries may be home to about 80% of the new poor
• New research estimates that climate change will drive 68 million to 132 million into poverty by 2030. Climate change is a particularly acute threat for countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

Question 8

how does relative poverty work across different countries and societies?

Answer 8

Relative poverty is defined relative to the members of a society and therefore, different across countries. People are said to be impoverished if they cannot keep up with the standard of living as determined by society.

relative poverty also changes over time. as the wealth of a society increases, so does the amount of income and resources that the society deems necessary for proper conditions of living.

Question 9

What income poverty?

Answer 9

• usually presented as either below 50/60% of median income
• fixed or contemporary line (measuring against what’s current, or what we used to measure against)
• before or after housing costs, usually adjusted for household structure and composition

Question 10

what are examples of hardship measures/non-income measures

Answer 10

• living standards scale
• Dep17
• material well-being index
• economic living standard index
• EU9/13
• comparative measures: to measure inequality
• Gini coefficient

Question 11

what are some measures by agencies and organisations?

Answer 11

• MSD’s Household Income Report
• MSD’s Non-Income Measures Report and The Social Report
• Child Poverty Monitor
• StatsNZ’s Survey of Family, Income and Employment
• Salvation Army’s State of the Nation Report
• CPAG’s reports
• The New Zealand Initiatives reports
• Maxim Institutes reports

Question 12

what are the 4 elements of comprehensively measuring child poverty?

Answer 12

• an income measure, adjusted for family structure and expressed before or after housing costs (fixed/anchored and moving line)
• a measure of material hardship, based around deprivation of items and activities as a result on insufficient income and/or inadequate resources
• a measure of severe hardship (the extent or depth of hardship)
• a measure of persistence (poverty over time, how long children experience poverty)

Question 13

what does this show?

Answer 13

income and hardship are not necessarily linked

Question 14

what are some reasons for measuring poverty?

Answer 14

• keep poverty on the agenda
• inform, monitor and inform programmes addressing poverty
• provide a benchmark against which to monitor progress
• evaluate the effectiveness of institutions (central and local government, government agencies etc)
• international comparison
• identifying groups in poverty for targeting interventions

Question 15

what does The Child Poverty Reduction Act 2018 require the government to do?

Answer 15

• set long term (10yr) and intermediate (3yr) targets on a defined set of child poverty measures
• report annually on the set of child poverty measures
• report each Budget day on how the Budget will reduce child poverty and how the government is progressing towards its targets
• report on child poverty related indicators

Question 16

what are the 4 primary measures of poverty and hardship that the government sets targets for?

Answer 16

• low income before housing costs (below 50% of median income, moving line)
• low income after housing costs (below 50% of median income, fixed line)
• a measure of material hardship (reflecting the proportion of children living in households with hardship rates below a standard threshold)
• a measure of poverty persistence (currently being developed, reflecting the proportion of children living in households experiencing poverty over several years, based on at least one of the measures above)

Question 17

what were the measures and baseline targets established in 2019? Were these targets met?

Answer 17

• *Measure:** Low-income: less than 50% of median equivalised DHI (without deducting housing costs) for financial year (before housing costs, BHC 50% moving line)
• *Intermediate Target:** 10.5% of children in the 2020/21 financial year
• *Outcome:** Not met
• *Measure:** Low-income: less than 50% of median equivalised DHI (after deducting housing costs) for base financial year (after housing costs, 50% fixed line)
• *Intermediate Target:** 18.8% of children in the 2020/21 financial year
• *Outcome:** Met
• *Measure** Material hardship
• *Intermediate Target**: 10.3% of children in the 2020/21 financial year
• *Outcome:** Met

Question 18

what does this show?

Answer 18

the percentage of children living in households with less than 60% of the median equivalised disposable household income after housing costs are deducted and experiencing material hardships are decreasing as time goes by

Question 19

how many children are living in poverty?

Answer 19

• 156,700 children living in households with less than 50% of the median equivalised disposable household income before housing costs are deducted (up from 151,200 in 2020)
• 187,000 children living in households with less than 50% of the median equivalised disposable household income after housing costs are deducted (down from 203,300)

125,700 children living in households that experienced material hardship (down from 131,700)

Question 20

what does this show?

Answer 20

poverty doesnt affect all children equally

maori and pasifika children and children with disabilities are most affected

not going down at the same rates than other groups which indicates there are clear equity issues

Question 21

how did the government report poverty?

Answer 21

• believe they reduced poverty across all 9 goals
• “government lifts 66,500 children out of poverty”
• sounds great, but there are still so many in poverty :(

Question 22

how does the Child Poverty Action Group report on the poverty rates?

Answer 22

• bold policy changes are urgently needed to shift poverty rates
• new stats show very limited progress
• these stats are especially bleak for the tend of thousands of children with disabilities or living with a disabled parent, who experience the highest rates of material hardship, while Maori and pacific children continue to experience unchanged, and very high rates on all poverty measures

Question 23

what policies and initiatives have helped with families on benefits and low incomes?

Answer 23

• benefit increases
• working for families and abatement rate increases
• the food in schools programme
• benefit thresholds, investment Maori housing, training allowance incentive reinstatement, wage indexing of childcare assistance, amended medical certificate process for job seeker support
• covid-19 wage subsidies
• increase minimum wage, lower employment and pay equity settlements

Question 24

how does the housing crisis impact children and whanau?

Answer 24

• frequent shifts
• lack of stability
• cost
• suitability of accomodation

Question 25

what does this show?

Answer 25

increase in cost of living reaches new high!

Question 26

what is the impact of covid on poverty?

Answer 26

• lost jobs
• incomes
• mental health
• disproportionate impacts of existing vulnerable groups
• new groups are also affected as people experience economic hardship as unemployment rises
• half of NZers experienced economic loss during level 4 lockdown.
• essential workers reported more stress

Question 27

why does poverty matter?

Answer 27

• human rights issue
• better for everyone in society
• social cohesion
• better for the economy
• Goal 1 of UN Sustainable goals

Question 28

why do we need a poverty focus on children?

Answer 28

children are significantly overrepresented in the hardship group and poverty affects children across cultures

38% of children in poverty are pakeha
24% are maori
13% are pasifika
14% are from other ethnic groups

• children arent at fault for being in poverty
• no second chance
• children are the future
• children rights issue
• poverty has long term effects
• 1 in 3 maori and pasifika children live in poverty

Question 29

what is the link between childhood poverty and adult health?

Answer 29

regardless of adult SES, health outcome was worse if they grew up with poverty compared to those who didn’t

Question 30

why do we have poverty?

Answer 30

inequality

• tax avoidance
• wealth begets wealth
• corporations goal of maximising profits to shareholders
• using money, power and influence with governments, policy-makers

neoliberal policies

• market driven economies
• malnutrition corporations
• workers rights and wages increasingly squeezed

Question 31

what is inequality?

Answer 31

inequality connects both ends of the spectrum, wealth and poverty

the fundamental issues is distribution: how are the economy and society structures, and where do they deliver their rewards?

poverty doesn’t exist in isolation: people are poor, in part, because the economy directs much of the country’s resources to those who are already doing well. wealth and poverty can’t be separated.

Question 32

what does this show?

Answer 32

NZ has increased income inequality

0=equal

above 0= unequal

Question 33

what does this show?

Answer 33

NZ has high income inequality compared to other countries

Question 34

what does this show about NZ?

Answer 34

there were many benefit cuts after the economic crash
neoliberalism has done this to NZ

Question 35

what does this show?

Answer 35

rich are getting richer

poor stay the same

middle go up slightly

Question 36

can poverty be eradicated?

Answer 36

• internationl agreement
  UNs sustainable development goals: goal 3: eradicate extreme poverty by 2030
• international aid
  $91.5 billion per year from wealthy countries for developmental aid
• trade and development
• better government
• charity?

Question 37

what is this?

Answer 37

a report that has 42 recommendations about reducing poverty.

Question 38

what is the fair pay agreement bill?

Answer 38

New system for workers to negotiate minimum pay and working conditions

If it goes through, it makes a difference for workers. Specifically aimed at those working in ECE, precarious work (supermarket workers, security guard),

If goes through, as long as people have 10% of their work force, they can have the union act on their behalf. Meaning this individuals don’t have to negotiate themselves.

Workers should have better rights and better pay