He acknowledged Wednesday, during a public administration and appropriations committee meeting in Parliament, that it was unrealistic to accept that a person now earning a little less than $1,700 per week was above the poverty line.

Government adjusted the minimum wage from $3,700 to $4,070 per week on May 11 this year.

Measuring poverty

McIntosh's comments came in response to what committee member Ronald Thwaites called "hopelessly outdated" figures for measuring poverty.

The committee was informed that the ministry was now using 2007 data from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) to measure poverty.

Ministry officials reported that a person earning $80,000 per annum was above the poverty line while a family of five existing on an income of $302,000 per annum was not poverty-stricken.

"I am concerned about the dissonance between Government and reality," Thwaites said, adding that the statistics on poverty used to inform budget allocations were grossly understated.

"What I don't think this Parliament wants to do is to involve itself in 'samfying' itself and the nation."

McIntosh said that, in 2007, there were 270,000 Jamaicans below the poverty line.

Colette Roberts-Risden, director of social security in the ministry, said the PIOJ was now working on new data to redefine the poor in Jamaica.

She said the figures for 2008 were not yet published.