Making the Filipino dream a reality

NUMBERS Global Economic Prospects report in June, it put the 2017 growth outlook for the Philippines at just under 7%. That is nearly twice the since the 1980s. It is also higher than the average growth rate over the last six years, which has been just north of 6%.

This optimistic outlook is driven by an expected increase in the Phil investments and is also unfazed by and weakened peso. For the most part, this remains believable given what is still a very healthy macro

JAMIL PAOLO FRANCISCO

But while talk of robust economic growth continues to be a popular topic at business clubs and executive boardrooms, most ordinary Filipinos have yet to experience a greater share of this prosperity.

Although there has been a marked decline in poverty incidence, one- fifth of Filipinos remain “poor.” Many more are considered “near-poor”; that is, they slip in and out of poverty when hit by external shocks such as job loss, natural calamities, family crises.

And while unemployment (5.7% in April) continues to post new historic lows, labor force exclusion, underemployment and in-work poverty persist because of sub-optimal market arrangements and informality. (The infamous “endo” or end-of-contract scheme comes to mind.)

Filipinos have long anticipated the promise of a demographic dividend, similar to the experience of the Asian Tigers. In short, when labor force swells relative to its dependents, there is a rapid rise

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