Cost of Living Indexes for Rural Labourers in Pakistan

The purpose of this paper is to provide estimates of the changes in the cost of living for rural labourers during the period 1966/67 to 1973. It is well known that throughout this period, and particularly in the recent years, prices have been rising. The Central Statistical Office (CSO) publishes consumer price indices for urban workers, but no index for rural workers is available. Thus, it is not known whether inflation has affected rural and urban workers uniformly. If changes in the cost of living have been different, then separate price indexes must be used in estimating the real income levels of the two groups. As development policies in Pakistan are increasingly aimed at alleviating poverty in the rural sector, the need for a separate price index applicable to rural labourers becomes obvious.