statistical institute of jamaica 1 family & community the jamaican situation presented by :...

STATISTICAL INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA

1

Family & Community

The Jamaican Situation

Presented by:

Sonia M. JacksonDirector General

Statistical Institute of Jamaica


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Structure of the Presentation

Introduction Concepts & Definitions – family, households, community Family types Types of Union Status The difficulties in studying “families” vis-à-vis “households” Role of families Social issues & the impact on families/households

Female/male headed households Employment The Impact of Crime & Violence Migration & Remittances

Gaps in the information Summary


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Introduction

Jamaica has a long history of data on households and poverty (SLC dates back to 1988 & 13 Population Censuses dating back to 1844);

The incidence of poverty still remains high at 14.3%. Poverty is also higher in the rural areas;

The available data have resulted in targeted solutions for households – PATH Programme;

Other social issues exist at the family and community levels that need to be addressed;


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Concepts & Definitions

Family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity and co-residence.

Household consists of one person who lives alone or a group of persons who, as a unit, jointly occupies the whole or part of a dwelling unit, who have common arrangements for housekeeping, and who generally share at least one meal. The household may be composed of related persons only, of unrelated persons, or of a combination of both. (Census 2001-Enumeration Manual)


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Concepts & Definitions cont’dIn reporting on the Household the following should be noted: All lodgers, domestic helpers, farm hands and other employees who live in

the dwelling and consider it, their usual place of residence should be included as members of the household.

If an individual sleeps in the same structure as the main household and shares at least one meal per day with the household, include him as a household member.

A domestic employee who sleeps in the house or in an out-building on the premises is to be listed as a member of the household if he or she sleeps there on an average of at least four nights per week and share at least one meal daily. If the helper’s partner or children live on the premises, all members of this family are to be included with the main household if they share meals with the main household. If there are separate arrangements for cooking they should be considered as a separate household;

In case of a tenement yard where there is a series of rooms rented to different persons by the landlord, each person or group of persons who live and share meals together is regarded as a separate household. A household in this special context may share external bathroom, toilet or even kitchen facilities with other similar households.


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Concepts & Definitions cont’d

A Community can be described as a social system that has a population, shared institutions and values, and significant social interactions between individuals and institutions.

(Social Work Practice – A Generalist Approach by Louise Johnson)


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Family Types

Conjugal – Nuclear – Father, mother & children; Consanguineal – Parents, Children and other

family members often referred to as the “extended family”;

Matrifocal – Mother and her children – in Jamaica, in many instances it is the Grandmother who is head of the household;

Patriarchal – Father and ruler of the family, authority sometimes extend beyond the immediate family to the community.


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Union Status

3 types are recognized: Married Union – man and woman legally

married to each other and are living together; Common Law Union – a man and woman

who share a common household but are not legally married to each other; and

Visiting relationship – a man and woman who have a steady sexual relationship but are neither legally married to each other nor living with each other.


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The Role of Families

Need satisfaction - Providing for the needs of the individual members

Procreation Socialisation – relations, hierarchy, sibling rivalry,

etc. Education – the home is the first teacher Economic Unit – mainly farming communities and

family based business endeavours Political - family structures and/or its internal

relationships may affect both state and religious institutions – respect for law and order, value systems


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Issues – “Family” versus “Union Status” The population is referred to as “not the marrying” type – 2001

Census data - 90% of persons 16+ had never been married; Marriage can be religious, civil and/or a combination of both

(usually both); Legally marriage in Jamaica is monogamous, one man one

woman; Common Law Unions, on the other hand, involves the

participation into socially sanctioned family forms; Stable Common Law Unions, 5 years and over, are now

recognised for inheritance & other benefits; Children born out of wedlock can no longer be discriminated

against for support and inheritance rights; Households, as defined, provide a more realistic description

of the base unit in which formation of the child takes place.


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Social Issues – Head of HouseholdHead of Household – def. Census 2001 For census purposes, every household must have a head. The Head of

the Household is the person, man or woman, who carries the main responsibility in the affairs of the household. In most cases it will be obvious who the head of the household is, usually it is the person who is the chief breadwinner.

In any event, the person recognized by the respondent as the head should be accepted as such for census purposes.

In the case of a group of unrelated persons sharing a dwelling on an equal basis, that member of the group whom the others acknowledge as such should be taken as the head. A person running a boarding house or similar establishment is considered to be the head of that household.

In a one person household, that person is the head of the household.


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% age Distribution of Household by Heads of HH & Size of HH 2006Sex of Head of House-hold (HH)

Household Size

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8+

Total

Male 1,037 32.3 18.0 17.0 12.4 9.1 4.4 3.5 3.4 100.0

Female 880 14.8 21.6 19.4 15.3 11.1 7.7 5.5 4.8 100.0

Jamaica 1,917 24.2 19.7 18.1 13.7 10.0 5.9 4.4 4.1 100.0


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Household Consumption 2006 – by Region & Head of Household

Per Capita

Consumption

Per Capita

Non-Consumption

Per Capita Total

Household Expenditure

Classification $ % $ % $ %

Region

KMA 178,350 89.0 22,016 11.0 200,366 100

Other Towns 147,068 91.1 14,432 8.9 161,500 100

Rural 109,979 92.3 9,122 7.7 119,101 100

Sex of Head of Household

Male 155,169 89.2 18,742 10.8 173,911 100

Female 125,027 92.4 10,272 7.6 135,299 100

Jamaica 139,595 90.7 14,366 9.3 153,961 100


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2007 Labour Force Indicators by Sex

ITEM January April July October January April July October

MALE FEMALE

Total Population 1,317,300 1,318,900 1,320,600 1,322,100 1,356,500 1,358,500 1,359,800 1,361,500

Pop. 14+ years 948,900 950,000 951,300 952,300 993,600 994,900 996,000 997,300

Labour Force 700,800 700,500 695,300 699,900 558,900 560,100 560,700 568,900

Employed L.F. 651,600 656,600 654,600 661,600 471,900 483,800 480,100 487,400

Unemployed L.F. 49,200 44,000 40,700 38,300 87,100 76,300 80,700 81,500

Outside the L.F. 248,100 249,500 256,000 252,400 434,700 434,800 435,300 428,400

Employment Rate 93.0 93.7 94.1 94.5 84.4 86.4 85.6 85.7

Unemployment Rate

7.0 6.3 5.9 5.5 15.6 13.6 14.4 14.3

Job Seeking Rate 4.1 4.4 4.1 3.6 7.0 8.3 8.8 9.2

LF as %age of Total Population

53.2 53.1 52.7 52.9 41.2 41.2 41.2 41.8


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Victims of Selected Crimes 2007 – by Age & SexAGE

GROU.MURDER SHOOTING ROBBERY BREAK-IN RAPE CARN.

ABUSETOTALBy Sex

GRANDTOTAL

M F M F M F M F F F M F

0-4 1 5 1 2 - - - - 2 2 2 11 13

5-9 2 1 2 2 1 - - - 21 23 5 47 52

10-14 6 3 10 5 15 4 1 2 165 300 32 479 511

15-19 112 19 88 9 58 47 7 20 242 138 265 475 740

20-24 230 28 195 23 125 96 63 45 109 - 613 301 914

25-29 257 13 154 21 162 90 82 81 52 - 655 257 912

30-34 188 13 140 11 149 78 127 105 43 - 604 250 854

35-39 181 14 90 15 149 60 116 77 23 - 536 189 725

40-44 123 19 100 15 127 53 111 68 16 - 461 171 632

45-49 107 11 64 9 77 28 71 71 15 - 319 134 453

50-54 48 3 36 3 63 64 74 49 6 - 221 85 306

55+ 101 12 42 6 134 33 176 76 12 - 453 139 592

Un-known

71 6 397 5 22 8 37 19 4 2 527 44 571

TOT. 1,427 147 1,319 126 1,082 521 865 613 710 465 4,693 2,582 7,275


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Components of Population Growth

Year Births Deaths Migration Population

2001 49,490 17,825 23,900 2,611,100

2002 48,627 17,018 23,300 2,619,400

2003 47,110 16,669 17,800 2,632,000

2004 47,127 16,905 18,100 2,644,100

2005 47,254 17,552 20,600 2,656,700

2006 46,277 16,317 17,100 2,669,500

2007 45,590 17,048 16,100 2,682,100


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US$ Million

Main Channels of Remittances :

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

Commercial Banks 177.5 267.9 313.6 361.2 357.9 385.1 412.1

Remittance Cos. 566.4 621.3 677.0 763.2 961.8 1,042.5 1,167.7

Post Offices 1.2 0.7 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 0.1

Bldg. Societies 195.5 240.7 277.7 340.0 300.3 341.7 385.6

Total Inflow 940.1 1,130.6 1,269.5 1,456.6 1,621.2 1,770.5 1,965.3

Total Outflow 147.3 213.4 282.8 340.0 316.8 299.4 n.a

Total GDP atCurrent Prices 8,127.4 8,473.4 8,256.3 8,821.2 9,701.7 10,375.9 11,220.4

ANNUAL REMITTANCE FLOWS 2001 – 2007


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Eliciting a Community Response

The Community has a role to play in the development of values and attitudes, management of crime, and influencing social policy, etc.;

Data are not being compiled at the community level; STATIN proposes the collection of and study of

communities – a prerequisite is the spatial definition of communities island-wide and the development of a community grid for Jamaica;

The issue is, also, how much and what types of data should be available at the community level;

Training has to be provided for community members, particularly the leaders, in the interpretation and use of the data for decision making.


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Re-socializing the Family At the family/household level a number of issues

need to addressed: The under achievement of young males result in poor

education, high unemployment and high crime rates - re-socialization is necessary through education, employment and other types of support;

The breakdown in the family structure through migration of parents – the lack of supervision & discipline, increased vulnerability of minors, the creation of “barrel children”, etc – support to be provided by social sector groups - churches, schools, NGO, etc;

The work of the Family Planning Board to be continued - birth rates have been falling and household sizes are being reduced;

Gender inequalities need to be addressed.


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Data Creation & Management

At the macro level The quantitative and qualitative measurements of the

results of the various social programmes need to be done; There should be the centralisation of the data gathered for

comprehensive studies to be done on the effectiveness of the various policy initiatives to support households/families;

Administrative data sources should be strengthened to provide the required information, and where necessary should be validated by household surveys;

The overall structure of the data management system should be reviewed and strengthened;

The legal framework for statistical data management needs to be strengthened;

Concerns pertaining to the issues of confidentiality and the release of micro data for research need to be addressed.


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Conclusion Social and cultural issues take time to change. Adequate

resources must be provided over the medium to long term to effect the change;

Steps need to be taken to gather baseline data on the deeper issues/factors that impact the development of the individual within the home and the community;

Families need to be re-socialized; Gender imbalances need to be addressed; Communities have a role to play in sustainable social

development, but the members have to be adequately prepared;

A strong stable economy in which jobs are provided for the population is a critical element of the process of change;

Corrective action needs to begin NOW!


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Glossary

Tenement Yard – properties where the buildings are divided and rented to several different persons;

KMA (Kingston Metropolitan Area)– The Parish of Kingston, the urban centres of St. Andrew, Spanish Town (St. Catherine) & Bull Bay (St. Thomas);

Barrel Children – children whose parents have migrated and are left in the care of an adult. Support is usually provided through remittances and items of clothing and other necessities being packaged and sent home in barrels;

Bldg. Societies (Building Societies) – housing finance institutions similar to Savings & Loans of USA.


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References

Population Census Reports 2001- The Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions 2006 – a joint Publication by the

Statistical Institute of Jamaica & the Planning Institute of Jamaica Economic And Social Survey of Jamaica 2007 – A Publication by the

Planning Institute of Jamaica Demography Statistics 2007 – a publication by the Statistical Institute of Ja. Jamaica 2015; Government’s Response to the Annual Progress Report on

National Social Policy Goals 2003; - the Jamaica Social Policy Evaluation (JASPEV) Project

statistical institute of jamaica 1 family & community the jamaican situation presented by :...

Documents

main household

household member

family members

group of persons

different persons

unrelated persons

similar households

social work