Have Spending/Saving Habits Changed Due to Harsh Economic Times?

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Table of Contents

Abstract
Hypothesis
Method of research
Interview Transcript
Analysis
Summary and Conclusion
References

Abstract

Food insecurity is a serious issue in most countries in the world. It has been assumed that only people from third world countries experience food insecurity. However, people in first world countries are also at risk due to rising cost of living. Although costs of basic goods have risen with time, wages have remained the same.

People faced with food insecurity in third world countries seek food aid. For example, Kenyan government declared food insecurity a national disaster in 2011 due to influx of refugees from Somalia and drought (United Nations, 2011). As a result, international organizations donated food stuff. Many people in first world countries do not seek food aid when they are faced with food insecurity.

In San Diego, over 3.7 million adults were faced with food insecurity in 2009 (California Food Policy Advocates, 2011). However, most of them did not ask for food aid. Causes of food insecurity include low income, high cost of living and increased unemployment rates.

Although most victims of food insecurities do not ask for aid, a few of them have been very vocal. Some humanitarian organizations have continued highlighting the issue. (Jewish Community Foundation San Diego, 2011)

In this paper, various causes and side effects of food insecurities are identified. The extent of the problem is analyzed to provide a clear situation in San Diego County. Coded words are used to provide an analysis of food insecurity. This paper use coded words from transcripts of interviews conducted in San Diego to identify the causes and financial implications of food insecurity.

Hypothesis

The hypothesis is that several residents of San Diego County in California who are faced with food insecurity have changed their spending and saving habits due to poor income and rising cost of living. Several people earn salaries which are not enough to cater for basic commodities including food.

Other people are not employed at all. This is a serious matter which contributes to food insecurity in several families (United Nations, 2003). The cost of living has risen in recent years. Costs of basic commodities have almost doubled in the last decade.

Business owners have capitalized on the rising demand for food to enrich themselves. Increased food prices impact negatively on low income earners. Most people have stopped saving and adjusted their spending habits.

Method of research

The research method used in this paper is coding. This method is used to organize and analyze key words and phrases which are considered to be important for the research. Results of the coding have been provided. They were obtained from transcripts of interviews conducted in San Diego County.

Results of the research are presented on a page after the interview transcript. At the end of the research, a conclusion shall be drawn to explain if the hypothesis was supported or not. The interview used in the research was conducted within thirty minutes (Berg, 2009).

Interview Transcript

I am a 36 year old man living and working in Bostonia town in San Diego County. I have grown in this town from childhood when my family bought a house here. My father was employed as a ranch attendant Yes, I have a family, a wife and two three children, two boys and a girl.

I work in a cigarettes factory. I have been working there for the last 15 years and still standing. My job is not good because I earn a poor salary.

I would say 2008 was the worst year which I experienced food insecurity. In 2001, there was a serious food shortage in some store but they were not expensive as it was in 2008. I would always think and ask myself if a day would pass without worrying about food for my family.

The economic depression contributed much of the rising prices. Here in Bostonia, food and other basic commodities were very expensive compared to any other year. Most of my friends and colleagues were complaining about expensive foods and basic commodities but they still went to stores and bought them.

Generally here in Bostonia, foods stuff and other commodities were just expensive but they were available in stores and food outlets. Even currently, there are plenty basic commodities but many people cannot afford them because of low income.

People who work in a store, factory and ranches upcountry have poor salary. In the last ten years, there has been no significant salary increment from most employers. Immigrants have provided cheap labor making it hard for residence of Bostonia to ask for salary increment.

No, business owners are not entirely responsible. I believe they sell their commodities based of market rates because this problem is not in Bostonia alone but also in several parts of San Diego County. Sometimes last year I went to Lake View to visit a friend and I found out that they were also complaining about expensive food.

He actually told me that they have started to spend less money on luxury to enable them cater for essential commodities. He also told me that many people with poor salary are faced with food insecurity. This is not a case of Bostonia alone.

My son once companied about my recent modified expenditure. My daughter has been also nagging to her mother to be taken her out over the weekends. My wife too has had a share of her complains. I have not been taking her out frequently as I used to in the last ten years.

I have reduced my savings due to expensive commodities and risk of food insecurity being faced every single day. In fact some months I don’t save at all. In my family, we have always had three meals a day but in recent times I have opted to skip lunch occasionally to ensure that I spend less money because I have a poor salary. This has enabled me to afford all the requirements of my family.

My children go to school where they are provided with lunch. Though I sometimes skip lunch, my children have their three meals a day. My wife has no formal employment. Her job is to provide baby sitting services. This job is not entirely reliable.

She does not like the idea of spending less in basic commodities but I always talk her out. She understands because she knows everything is expensive and we need to spend less money on everything.

No I am better than most people in Bostonia because I have a stable job although with a poor salary. Those people with no formal employment are faced with food insecurity day in day out. They are forced to spend less money on everything because of their low income.

Most of them don’t save any money for future use. I heard that some people in other towns were given donations to save them from food insecurity. Everybody believed that in United States people are not supposed to rely on food aid but due to expensive commodities, people have been forced to do anything which might help them to survive.

People here work overtime or do two different jobs to increase their income. However, not everybody get these extra jobs. I have not worked two jobs all my life but I have worked overtime to increase my income.

My wife on the other hand can accomplish more than one task in a single day but she does not always get the jobs When she is not working she does her chores at home including cooking and laundry.

We cook in the house all week round. Sometimes as a family, we eat in food outlets. But this only happens when we have something special to celebrate about. To cook ensures that we spend less rather than eat in restaurant which is expensive. No we don’t save much when we cook in the house but we ensure that we avoid the expensive restaurants.

Food insecurity is an issue which should be keenly addressed by the government. No, not through food aid but by empowering people to come up with way of increasing their low income or supplementing their poor salary.

This will ensure that they can still buy the expensive basic commodities and avoid food insecurity. Employers too should improve the poor salaries they give their employees based on their performance.

Analysis

The results of word coding show that hypothesis of the research is supported. Total frequency of keywords and phrases which were identified is high. These words and phrases have shown that the person who was interviewed is faced with hard economic time which has forced him to reduce expenditure.

High frequency of words likes ‘expensive’ and phrases like ‘spend less’ support hypothesis of this research. Out of 16 words and phrases which were analyzed, the highest five in descending order are; Expensive 11, Job 8, Food Insecurity 7, Poor Salary 6 and Spend less 5,.

The numbers show that food insecurity is a big concern to people in San Diego County. Foods have become expensive forcing people to spend less money on other needs. This is because foods consume most of their income. Poor salary was also mentioned frequently.

This means that poor salaries contribute to food insecurity. The results concur with a report from Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, (2003) which mention poor income and unemployment as the main causes of food insecurity.

Most participants mentioned the word expensive more than any other word or phrase studied. According to Jewish Community Foundation San Diego (2011), poor salaries and unemployment are the main causes of food insecurity.

Low income earners in the area have stopped saving. More people relied on food donations 2008 while schools have started feeding programs to combat food insecurity (Jewish Community Foundation San Diego, 2011).

A press release by California Food Policy Advocates (2011) showed that families earning less than $ 36,000 a year struggle to afford nutritious food. This is an indication that salaries and income play a vital role in food security. Net income determines the quality of food people eat.

Furthermore, the press release indicated that people relying on CalFresh increased in 2009. This is contrary to the results obtained from this study which shows that few participants mentioned ‘donations.’ Most people in San Diego are proud and do not want to be associated with donations.

Although a good number of people are faced with food insecurity, few of them seek donations. These people spend less money on nutritious food. ‘Skip lunch’ was mentioned as a way of reducing cost of food. Restaurants 1, Donations 1, and Eat out 1 had the lowest frequency. This shows that many people avoid eating in restaurants to reduce their spending on food. They cook at home to cut costs.

Summary and Conclusion

From the results, ‘insecurity,’ ’expensive,’ ‘food, ‘spend less’ and ‘poor salary’ recorded the highest frequencies. On the other hand, ‘Restaurants,’ ‘Donations,’ and ‘Eat out’ had the lowest frequencies. I conclude that the high frequency of the word ‘expensive’ and the phrase ‘spend less’ show that people have been forced to spend less money on food because they are expensive.

This has forced them to stop saving and concentrate on buying food. Fewer hits were recorded for restaurants, and eat out showing support of my conclusion that people in San Diego have stopped eating luxuriously due to escalating food prices. The hypothesis I drew at the beginning of this research is supported by the findings.

References

Berg, B. L. (2009). Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

California Food Policy Advocates, (2011). More Low-Income Californians Struggle to Put Food on the Table 210,000 Low-Income Adults in San Diego County are Food Insecure. Web.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, (2003). The state of food insecurity in the world. Rome, Italy: Viale delle Terme di Caracalla.

Jewish Community Foundation San Diego, (2011). Feeding the Hungry in San Diego. Web.

United Nations, (2011). Eastern Africa Drought Humanitarian Report. Web.

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