Survey: More Pinoys say life worse
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 11/20/2008 11:38 AM
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Majority of Filipinos say they are worse off now than a year ago as the country's economy continues to suffer the aftershocks of the global economic crisis, results of the latest Pulse Asia survey said Thursday.
The survey, conducted among 1,200 adults nationwide from Oct. 14 to 27, 2008, showed that pessimism is predominant among Filipinos across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes with 58 percent of respondents saying that they are worse off now than last year.
Mindanao (73%) and Class E respondents (60%) were the worst hit by inflationary pressures as their quality of life worsened. As regards those saying there was no change in their personal circumstances over the past year, figures vary from 18 percent in Mindanao to 34 percent in the rest of Luzon.
At the personal level, pessimism about the year ahead is most pronounced in Mindanao (61%) but a high level of pessimism may also be noted in the Visayas (55%). In contrast, pessimism is least manifest in Metro Manila (28%) where optimism is at its highest (34%). Those in the Visayas, Mindanao, and the poorest Class E (14% to 17%) are least optimistic about their personal circumstances in the year ahead.
Additionally, the percentages of Filipinos who do not expect any change in their personal situation in the next 12 months are generally consistent with the national figure (28% to 38% versus 33%), except in Mindanao where a lower figure is recorded
National economy deteriorating
At least 79 percent of Filipinos considers the national economy to have deteriorated in the past three years – a sentiment shared by big majorities (72% to 86%) in all geographic areas and socio-economic classes.
In contrast, only six percent of Filipinos think that the national economic situation improved since 2005 while 15 percent said there was no change – positive or negative – in the state of the Philippine economy.
Among the majority saying the state of the national economy has worsened in the past three years, 77 percent strongly felt, 21 percent somewhat felt, and only two percent did not feel the impact of deterioration on their own lives.
Indications of easing
It is not all bad news, however. The Pulse Asia survey detected some “easing” in the economic burdens of Filipinos this quarter compared to that of the previous quarter.
This is shown in the fact that fewer Filipinos consider themselves losers in the October 2008 survey (58 percent) compared to the survey of July 2008 (75 percent, or a difference of -17 points)
Levels of personal pessimism (percentage of respondents who expect their personal quality of life to be worse next year) also declined by 20 percentage points between July and October 2008.
Pulse Asia President Prof. Ronald Holmes said the decline in oil prices and its impact in lowering the prices of commodities may have contributed to this.
This easing effect is mostly felt for the balance of Luzon (which registered a 21 percent decline in the number of “losers” in terms of personal quality of life for October compared to July) and the Visayas (25 percent decline) and among classes D and E.
Still, a comparison of the October 2008 to that of October 2007 indicates that conditions are generally still worse this year compared to the previous year, with more respondents reporting that their personal quality of life is worse now (58 percent in October 2008 compared to 46 percent in October 2007).
Half of Pinoys say global crisis to affect RP
Forty-nine percent or half of Filipinos believe the American financial crisis may have a great impact on the Philippine economy and most of them feel the crisis would have disastrous consequences for most Filipinos in general (78%) as well as for their own families (63%).
The financial crisis in the United States (US) is known to 69 percent of Filipinos while the rest (31%) do not know about this development. Majorities across geographic areas and socioeconomicclasses (55% to 90%) are aware of the financial crisis.
Among those aware, big majorities (65% to 75%) across geographic areas and socio-economic classes believe the American financial crisis may have a great impact on the Philippine economy. About half (49%) of Filipinos believe that the crisis may have a large effect on the Philippines. In particular, this subgroup of Filipinos is worried that the crisis in the US would be disastrous for most Filipinos (76% to 83%) and would have adverse repercussions for their own families (53% to 69%). - with a report from Gemma Bagayaua, abs-cbnNEWS.com/ Newsbreak
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as of 11/20/2008 12:39 PM
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