Identifying the Significant Factors that Influence Teachers Families Consumption and Savings in Erbil Governorate

Abstract

In recent years, public school teachers in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region have experienced persistent and severe delays in receiving their monthly salaries, often spanning between 30 and 60 days. This financial instability has generated highly adverse impacts on both their household consumption patterns and long-term personal savings. This empirical study aims to investigate the most critical socio-economic factors influencing the consumption expenditures and savings of teachers' families, utilizing a representative sample of 390 teachers in the Erbil Governorate. To achieve this, two distinct econometric models were developed to analyze total consumption expenditures and savings behaviors. The empirical findings demonstrated that monthly salary, spouse's monthly income, the total number of children, and certain qualitative variables—such as employment in the private school sector and sending children to private institutions—had a positive and statistically significant influence on consumption. Conversely, holding a bachelor's certificate exerted a negative and significant impact on family consumption compared to holding a doctorate degree. Regarding the savings model, both the teacher's salary and spouse's income significantly dictated family savings. Furthermore, elasticity calculations revealed that consumption expenditures were inelastic relative to changes in the teacher’s salary and spouse’s income, but highly elastic regarding the number of children. Meanwhile, savings elasticity was positive and elastic for the teacher’s salary, but inelastic for the spouse's income.