Results of Poverty Reduction Policy Implementation in 2013.

1.5. Results of poverty reduction policy implementation in 2013.

In the process of implementing poverty reduction, each policy has its own effectiveness, contributing to helping the poor stabilize their lives and escape poverty. Thanks to the efforts to achieve the set targets and tasks, by the end of 2012, the whole district had 1,800 poor households and 1,398 near-poor households; accounting for 8.0% of the total number of households. With the efforts to implement practical and synchronous poverty reduction tasks such as: policies on health, insurance, education, preferential credit loans, business guidance... of sectors, associations and unions, by the end of 2013, the district had 978 households escaping poverty according to the poverty standards of the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs; the poverty rate decreased by nearly 1% from 4.5% in the same period of 2012 to 3.52% with 1,459 poor households. Specifically as follows.

Table 1: Results of poverty reduction work in Thuan Thanh district in 2013.

Through Table 1, we can see that poverty reduction work in the communes in the district is very uneven. There are communes with poverty escape and near-poverty escape rates up to twice as high as other communes, such as Ngu Thai commune with 72 households escaping poverty in 2013 while Song Ho commune had 4 households or Ho Town had 34 households escaping poverty while Gia Dong commune had only 8 households escaping poverty. It can be explained that compared to Ngu Thai commune, Song Ho commune has a lower number of poor households and a lower poverty rate. However, Ho Town and Gia Dong commune are 2 communes with approximately the same number of poor people and poverty rates, so it can be objectively assessed that poverty reduction work in the 2 localities is of interest and implemented at different levels. In addition, in localities far from the district center, bordering other provinces, poverty reduction work has not received due attention, causing many new poor and near-poor households to appear, such as in Nguyet Duc commune, a commune far from the district center, bordering Hung Yen province, with 22 new poor households and 47 new near-poor households. Similarly, Ninh Xa commune, also a commune bordering Hung Yen province, has 16 new poor households and 79 new near-poor households. In addition, poverty reduction work has not been carried out in a sustainable manner, the rate of re-poor and re-near-poor still occurs, especially in Dinh To commune, there are 38 households re-near-poor while the number of households escaping near-poverty is 41.

2. Current status of poverty reduction work in Thuan Thanh district.

2.1. Characteristics of the poor in the area.

2.1.1. Demographic characteristics.

According to the 2013 poverty reduction summary report, Thuan Thanh district has a poverty rate of 3.52%, approximately equal to the near-poor rate of 3.59%. Therefore, in the investigation, the thesis selected 50 poor household heads and 50 near-poor households.

Table 2.2. Number of members in poor families. (unit: %)

Number of members

Total	1 person	From 2 - 3 People	4 -5 People	6 people or more
Poor household	100	12	22	36	30
Near poor household	100	8	20	48	24
Shared	100	10	21	42	27

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(Source: Survey data)

Looking at the overall number of family members , we see that the HN and HCN in Thuan Thanh district mainly have 4 to 5 members, accounting for 42% of the total number of surveyed households. The least number of households has 1 person, only 10%.

With average population , HN and HCN have almost the same number of family members: the average number of poor households is 4.24 people, while that of near-poor households is 4.3 people.

However, it is worth noting that the number of members in families is quite large, with households with 6 or more members accounting for 27% of the total number of surveyed households.

Table 2.3. Number of workers in poor and near-poor families. (unit: %)

Number of members

Total	0 people	1 person	2 people	From 3 people and above
Poor household	100	10	26	40	24
Near poor household	100	6	24	58	12
Shared	100	8	25	49	18

(Source: Survey data)

In terms of the number of workers in the family, through table 2.3 we see that poor families mainly have 2 main workers, accounting for 49%, the least is the group without main workers with 8%.

Thus, with demographic characteristics, students can draw the demographic characteristics of the poor in Thuan Thanh district: The number of members in poor families in Thuan Thanh district is quite high, while the number of workers in the family is small. This reduces the average income of households, causing the dependency coefficient to increase, which is the percentage of dependents over the number of income earners.

2.1.2. Characteristics of educational level.

Several studies have shown that education increases the likelihood of employment and thus increases income, so it can be said that education reduces the risk of poverty and for households that are already poor, education can increase the likelihood of escaping that situation (overcoming “poverty”). And so, education, in a sense,

More comprehensive, is the key for individuals to have better jobs, is the key for individuals to have better jobs and higher income, contributing to improving the quality of life for themselves and their families.

Chart 2.1. Education level of the poor (unit: %)

13%

34%

46%

Not going to school

Elementary level

Middle School Level

High school level

(Source: Survey data)

The education level of the poor is generally at the primary level, accounting for 46%, followed by secondary school at 34%; high school at only 13% and a small percentage (7%) do not attend school and drop out of school at the right age. The high school rate is low, especially in the low-income group. This shows that the poorer the poor, the lower the education level because there are no conditions for their children to study at a higher level. The rate of children not studying at the right age increases gradually in higher grades.

2.1.3. Occupational characteristics.

The economic instability in recent years has directly caused job loss and reduced income for many people . Therefore, the rate of poor people in Thuan Thanh district with stable jobs is not high. The investigation of the occupations of poor households obtained the following results:

. Table 2.4. Occupations of the poor.

Occupation of household head

Rate (%)
No job	14
Farmer	33
Home Business	6
Salaried workers in the following industries:
Industry and manufacturing	15
Build	19
Service	13
Total	100.00

(Source: Survey data)

The most common occupation of the poor in Thuan Thanh district is agriculture, accounting for 33%, while family business activities are not developed, accounting for only 6%. However, agricultural production is highly seasonal, during the off-season, most workers have no work to increase their income, except for some localities that can promote traditional occupations (such as Ho village, Song Ho commune, which makes votive offerings, or Tra Lam village, Tri Qua commune, which makes tofu...).

The wage-earning poor often work in the informal sector, where jobs are unskilled, low-paying and unstable. But the informal sector is essential for the survival and livelihood of the majority of the poor.

The alarming point here is that the unemployment rate is high at over 10% of the total number of people surveyed.

Thus, we can comment on occupational characteristics as follows: Poor people in Thuan Thanh often do not have a main source of income or low income is one of the risks leading to poverty.

2.1.4. Income characteristics.

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