Majority of households prefer higher wages over cash aid: Unicef

 

A majority of surveyed households, about 40 percent, prefer the government to look into increasing wages to help them mitigate the rising cost of living.

This is preferable to offering cash assistance (32 percent), a Unicef report on urban poverty said.

“Most households advocate for policy interventions that address the root causes of financial strain, namely inadequate wages and the erosion of purchasing power.

“Health and education assistances are likely not as prioritised by the households since health coverage is universal and public schooling is readily available,” said the report titled “Living On The Edge”.

The study was conducted from Oct 14, 2023, to Nov 16, 2023 - with data collected from a total of 755 low-income households living in 16 low-cost public housing in Kuala Lumpur.

Additionally, a booster sample of 254 households was added, specifically households led by women, to add depth to the analysis.

Price control measures favoured

Respondents in the report are segregated into three categories - total households, households led by women, and households led by those with disabilities.

Households led by women also backed the higher salaries idea under the “most-needed policy” section of the report, at 39 percent.

“However, 50 percent of those with disabilities preferred cash assistance measures instead of higher salaries (25 percent).

“In addition, those with disabilities also preferred capital assistance for their small business, at 33 percent,” the report stated.

On the “current policies that are most useful” category, all three categories were in favour of price control measures (51 percent) - with the most support coming from households led by those with disabilities (58 percent) and women-led households (54 percent).

The second-most favourite policy was subsidies and price controls at 26 percent.

“Interestingly, only seven percent of the respondents spoke favourably of petrol and diesel subsidies,” the report stated. - Mkini