Poverty Rises in Pandemic Times

#SahabatData
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a tremendous impact on social conditions, such as the risk of increasing poverty and unemployment.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that Indonesia's poverty rate as of March 2020 had increased to 26.42 million people. With this position, the percentage of poor people as of March 2020 also rose to 9.78 percent. Compared to March 2019, the increase reached 1.28 million people from the previous 25.14 million people. The percentage of poor people also increased by 0.37 percentage points from March 2019 which was only 9.41 percent.

Indonesia's poverty rate in March 2020 also increased by 1.63 million people from September 2019 which reached 24.79 million people. This March 2020 percentage increased 0.56 percentage points from September 2019 which only reached 9.22 percent.

Viewed by province, the impact of Covid-19, which has only been recorded for several weeks in the BPS March 2020 survey, shows that almost all regions have experienced an increase. Of the 34 provinces, 22 of them experienced an increase in poverty levels. All provinces in Java experienced an increase in poverty.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) noted that Central Java Province was ranked third nationally in the increase in the number of poor people as of March 2020, behind West Java and East Java. The addition, until March 2020 there were 301,500 people, an increase of 0.83 percent compared to September 2019 data.

No exception, Rembang Regency has also experienced an increase in the poverty rate. One of the factors for increasing poverty this year was triggered by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in changes in behavior and economic activity that disrupted the economy which ultimately affected people's income. Before the pandemic hit, the poverty rate trend in Rembang Regency continued to show a significant decline.
Based on Susenas March 2020 data, it was noted that the percentage of poor people in Rembang Regency as of March 2020 was 15.60 percent or an increase of 0.56 points from March 2019's position of 14.95 percent. In terms of numbers, the poor population per March 2020 increased to 100.08 thousand people. This number is up 4.82 points from March 2019 of 95.26 thousand people.

The Poverty Depth Index (P1) and the Poverty Severity Index (P2) in 2020 tend to slightly increase.

The Poverty Depth Index (P1), is a measure of the average expenditure gap of each poor population against the poverty line. P1 in 2020 amounted to 2.44, increased compared to P1 in 2019 of 2.32. The increasing P1 index illustrates that the average expenditure of the poor has moved slightly away from the poverty line. In Rembang Regency, the poverty line (GK) in 2020 is IDR 403,932 per capita per month.

Meanwhile, the Poverty Severity Index (P2) provides an overview of the distribution of expenditure among the poor. P2 in 2020 of 0.53 increased compared to 2019 of 0.48. The increasing P2 index illustrates the higher expenditure inequality among the poor. (Jq)