The typical remittance recipient is employed and educated, new study shows
Published:Friday | April 1, 2011 | 12:00 AM
A new study of Jamaica's remittance sector commissioned by the Bank of Jamaica finds that the recipients of foreign cash were more likely to be employed than not, and that a majority of the survey sample, 49 per cent, said they have full-time jobs.
The remittance recipients included professional groupings such as teachers and accountants, and traditional workers such as farmhands and tradesmen.
And 30 per cent self-identified as having tertiary-level education, while nine in 10 had secondary-level schooling.
About a quarter of those who said they worked full-time were identified as being self-employed.
The profile of the remittance recipient as captured in the Remittances to Jamaica: Findings of a National Survey of Remittance Recipients, done by Eliud George Ramocan, also shows that more than a third of recipients self-identified as unemployed, retirees and students - 13 per cent acknowledged that they were not seeking work, and 24 per cent said they had no jobs.
The study also reinforced what was already known of the source of remittance inflows to Jamaica, finding that among its sample that 62 per cent emanated from the United States, 17 per cent from the United Kingdom, 9.4 per cent from Canada and a combined 8.6 per cent split between the Cayman Islands and other areas of the Caribbean.
Remittances also flow from the Middle East, Australia and Central America, the study found.
US$3,750 per recipient
"It must be noted, however," the report said, "that the survey results are based on the total number of senders identified by respondents, and not based on transaction volume or value."
BOJ, which tracks remittance inflows and outflows on a monthly basis, reports on geographic markets relative to the amount of money transfers. In 2010, the central bank estimated inflows of US$1.9 billion, still below the peak year flows of US$2.03 billion in 2008 when the global economic crisis was birthed.
The remittance study concluded that average remittances per recipient amounts to US$3,750 per year - J$321,600 at spot rates - that the majority of recipients receive remittances once per month; that of the frequent recipients, 85 per cent used the funds for basic living expenses; and that the funds tended to support households of one or more persons.
Ramocan's survey also found that during the economic downturn, while 53 per cent of recipients got less cash, a substantial 39 per cent received about the same amount of transfers from relatives abroad.
He foresees no disruptions to the remittance market as economic conditions improve in source markets, and given "Jamaica's high level of migration" and "self-sacrificial" tendencies.
"Although remittance flows to Jamaica were adversely affected by the global economic recession, there has been modest recovery since late 2009. This reflects some degree of resilience and countercyclical behaviour, stemming from the strong ties between sender and receiver, and the aggregate motivation by senders to remit money self-sacrificially, in the greater interest of the welfare of their family and friends left behind," Ramocan wrote.
"It is, therefore, expected that remittance flows to Jamaica will be sustained, albeit at a slower rate of growth compared to pre-crisis periods."
The report is available on the BOJ's website.