Household Poverty Dynamics In Bengkulu Province Before And During The Covid-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for people to work to generate income. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people experienced limitations, especially in economic and social activities. The COVID-19 pandemic is suspected of causing an increase in poverty rates both multidimensionally and monetarily. This study analyzed household poverty dynamics in Bengkulu Province before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using a monetary and multidimensional poverty approach. The study was conducted in Bengkulu Province and included five years of poverty data, namely before the pandemic (2018-2019) and during the pandemic (2020-2021). The data used in this study are secondary data obtained by the Biro Pusat Statistik (BPS) of Bengkulu Province. The monetary poverty rate is calculated based on the BPS Poverty Line (PL). In contrast, multidimensional poverty is measured using the Alkire-Foster Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) method, which has four dimensions: monetary, health, education, and basic infrastructure. The results of the study showed that Households classified as monetary poor before the COVID-19 pandemic from 2018 (13.07) showed a decline in 2019 (12,14%) but then continued to increase when the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020 (12,34%). In contrast, households are experiencing multidimensional poverty, which continued to increase from before the COVID-19 pandemic 2018 (8.31%) to 10.55% during the COVID-19 pandemic 2021. If poverty is measured monetarily and multidimensionally simultaneously, the percentage of households experiencing poverty in 2018 (15.94%) continued to decline until the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 (15.02%). However, it then increased sharply in 2021 (16.86%).