Business
Quality of life improves: significant increase of middle class in the Caribbean
The report finds that some of the key factors favoring the upward mobility in the region are higher levels of education among workers; higher employment in the formal sector; more people living in urban areas; more women in the labor force; and smaller families.
The report defines middle class in income terms of anyone making between US$10 and US$50 per day.
It says this level of income provides an increased resilience to unexpected events and reflects a lower probability of falling back into poverty.
The report, however, also describes a fourth, vulnerable class, “which underscored the need for countries to do much more to increase shared prosperity”.
It says members of this vulnerable class, representing 38 percent of the population, fare better income-wise than the poor, but lack the economic security of the middle class.
Sandwiched between the two, the report says the vulnerable class makes between US$4 and US10 per capita, daily.
The report also determines that, with the exception of years of schooling, intergeneration mobility remains limited. It says a young person’s parents’ economic and social background still play a substantial a role in determining that person’s economic future.
Augusto de la Torre, chief economist for the Caribbean and Latin America at the World Bank, said, however, that this may change,
“A society with a growing middle class is more likely to reduce such inequalities. It is widely recognized that the middle class is an agent of stability and prosperity.” – (CMC)
