SWS 2nd quarter poverty survey shows people are struggling

THE Social Weather Stations' (SWS) press statement in connection with the release of its 2022 second quarter survey on self-rated poverty carried an interesting observation on the "self-rated poverty threshold." The self-rated poverty threshold is defined by SWS as "the minimum monthly budget self-rated poor families say they need for home expenses in order not to consider themselves poor." SWS noted that the threshold "has remained sluggish [moving slowly or not at all] for several years despite considerable inflation. This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, i.e., belt-tightening" (SWS, July 28, 2022).

So, while prices of basic goods and services have increased significantly in recent years, survey respondents have been telling SWS that the amount they need to cover basic home expenses didn't rise as much as the inflation rate would suggest.