Pressure on income may limit household investments in education, others — NBS

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), yesterday, said the pressure on income might limit household investments on education and health services for family members.

In its COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS) for October 2020, the Bureau stated: “If household income continues to be precarious, this may limit the investments households are able to make in education and health services for their members, even if schools fully reopen and the government supports more testing and vaccination.

“While the share of respondents who were working remained stable in October 2020 (at 87 percent of respondents), the sixth round of the NLPS provides further evidence that income remains precarious for many households.

“Of the 84 percent of households that operated a non-farm enterprise at any point in 2020, around 22 percent were not operating their businesses in October 2020. The vast majority of these non-farm enterprises that are currently closed had been open at some point since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, indicating that businesses that may have, at some point, resumed operations were not viable enough to continue.

“Although school closure is the main reason why school-aged household members were not attending school across all consumption quintiles, lack of money is the remains an important reason among individuals from the poorest households (16 percent of those not attending).

“Those school-aged household members who report that they are currently awaiting admission predominantly come from the richest households (27 percent of those not attending), perhaps reflecting the better prospects for higher levels of educational attainment for individuals from richer households.”