Low wages remain the main cause of low and below-average income levels among households in Kazakhstan, reports infohub.kz.
This is the conclusion of a study by the Bureau of National Statistics, which surveyed respondents about the reasons for their financial situation. According to the results, 62.1% of participants cited insufficient wages as the primary cause.
The second most common reason was low pensions, chosen by 33% of respondents. Another 20.3% said they could not find a permanent paid job in their place of residence.
Among other factors, Kazakhs cited the lack of any paid work (14.9%), insufficient qualifications or work experience (12.7%), and insufficient education to find a suitable job (11.5%).
About 11% of respondents believe that low social benefits are the cause of their financial situation. Another 9.5% attributed it to poor health, and 9.2% to high debt burdens from loans and mortgages.
Much less frequently, respondents cited the need to care for preschool children not attending kindergarten (1.5%), emergencies and natural disasters (1%), and other reasons (0.7%).
The study also showed differences between urban and rural residents. In cities, low pensions were more often cited as a cause of low income (50.1% vs. 18.8% in rural areas). In rural areas, on the other hand, the inability to find a permanent job locally was more often mentioned (25.5% vs. 14% in cities), as well as the lack of any paid work (22.2% vs. 6.2%).
Furthermore, men were significantly more likely than women to associate low income with low wages – 75.5% vs. 54.9%. Women, on the other hand, more often cited low pensions (39.9% vs. 20.2% for men) and low social benefits (12.2% vs. 8.8%).
It should be noted that real incomes of Kazakhstan's population grew by only 0.1% in the first half of the year, but the Ministry of National Economy considers even this result positive.