CAC school textbook price survey shows 6.61% average increase

Findings from the annual Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) school textbook survey indicate that on average, the prices of school textbooks have increased by 6.61 per cent overall.

The survey was conducted during the period July 29 to August 2, 2024. Data was obtained from all parishes where bookstores were identified.

The average price increase in the Greater Kingston Metropolitan Region (GKMR) was 6.98 per cent, and 7.18 per cent in rural towns.

This year's islandwide average price increase is lower than the average increase observed last year by 2.4 percentage points. Additionally, it is two percentage points lower than the average increase observed last year in the GKMR, and 0.84 percentage point lower than the average increase observed last year across rural towns.

Speaking with JIS News, Director of Research at the CAC, Racquel White, said 64 bookstores were visited; however, data was obtained from 60 outlets – 20 in the GKMR and 40 in rural towns.

“The sample included 180 popular textbooks that were surveyed, and this was derived through our partnership with the Ministry of Education and Youth, which assists us in identifying the most popular books that are submitted by the public schools islandwide, which have to submit their booklists to the Ministry for approval,” she explained.

There were 104 secondary-level, 64 primary-level and 12 infant-level popular textbooks, covering 19 subject areas.

“The results of the survey show that in terms of price increases over last year July 2023, when we last did the survey, the price increase was, on average, 6.61 per cent. This is about 2.4 percentage points lower than the increase observed last year which was nine per cent islandwide,” the CAC Research Director said.

Islandwide, most books (65 per cent or 109) recorded price increases between 1 per cent and 10 per cent.

This was followed by 39 books (23 per cent), which recorded price increases between 11 per cent and 20 per cent. Two CSEC/CAPE books recorded price increases ranging from 21 per cent to 30 per cent.

“We did observe that the increases generally across the board were lower than last year. In the past, we have seen year-on-year or what we call point-to-point increase being up to [approximately] 50 per cent,” White said.

“But there were no books that increased that much. In fact, the highest increase was 27 per cent that was observed in an Oxford School Dictionary. Following that was the Oxford Spanish Dictionary that increased by 24 per cent. The lowest reduction we saw was a reduction by 17.3 per cent. The prices of very few books were held constant,” she noted.

The average price reductions (between one per cent and 10 per cent) were observed in eight per cent of school textbooks, while one CSEC/CAPE text recorded an average price reduction of 17.33 per cent. Moreover, the average price of two books (one per cent) remained relatively constant.

As it relates to availability, it was observed that on average, this was low (39 per cent), falling by five percentage points when compared to the average availability of texts surveyed islandwide (44 per cent) in July 2023.

“We did find that across subject areas there were some books that were more readily available,” she told JIS News.

Giving an explanation for the unavailability of some texts, White said some bookstore operators indicated that some textbooks are being revised.

“We really encourage our consumers to shop around and use the data that the CAC has provided and is made available on our website through our price enquiry tool. We also have consumer alerts that we will be placing on the website for them to use. Persons can also call our offices and we will send the information,” she pointed out.

In terms of availability, on average, infant-level textbooks were widely available in more than 77 per cent of outlets surveyed, while the average availability of primary-level texts was 46 per cent, with most texts being available in less than half of the outlets surveyed islandwide.

Primary Exit Profile (PEP) books were an exception, as on average, they were readily available in more than 51 per cent of bookstores surveyed.

At the secondary level, literature novels were available in 44 per cent of bookstores surveyed islandwide.

White noted that availability of textbooks for grades seven to nine, and CSEC/CAPE books was low. These were available in 29 per cent and 27 per cent of bookstores surveyed in the GKMR and in rural towns, respectively.

On average, there was a 41 per cent difference between the highest and lowest price observed for textbooks islandwide, except for literature novels, where the average was 92 per cent. This was due to differences in the cover (hard/soft), publishers and sources.

Within the GKMR and among rural towns, the average difference was 19 per cent and 38 per cent, respectively, among all textbooks, except for literature novels, where the difference between the highest and lowest price was on average 46 per cent and 84 per cent, respectively.

Data analysis involved the calculation of the average, maximum and minimum price for each textbook as well as availability. Point-to-point comparative analysis included 167 books common to the two survey periods (2023 and 2024).

- JIS News

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