Pinoys’ optimism still ‘very high,’ survey shows

THE OUTLOOK of Filipinos for their lives in the coming months remains “very high” but the number of those who expect the economy to improve during the period has declined, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The poll found that 41 percent of Filipinos expect their lives to improve in the next 12 months, while 8 percent said otherwise, resulting in a “very high” +33 personal optimism net score (optimists minus pessimists).

The personal optimism figure, however, was down two points from the+35 net rating (40 percent optimistic, 6 percent pessimistic) in the previous quarter, which the SWS had also rated as “very high.”

The survey was conducted nationwide from Dec. 11 to 16. The results were first published in BusinessWorld.

SWS also found that Filipinos’ outlook on the economy declined with only 30 percent of respondents saying it would get better and 21 percent saying it would get worse.

This yielded a “high” +8 economic optimism net score, down 9 percentage points from the “very high” +17 (33 percent optimistic, 16 percent pessimistic) net rating in September.

The Philippine economy, as measured by its gross domestic product, grew by 7.2 percent last year, making it Asia’s second-fastest growing economy after China, which expanded by 7.7 percent.

However, a previous SWS survey showed that the number of jobless Filipinos had reached 12.1 million as the jobless rate rose to 27.5 percent in the last quarter, making the economic growth far from inclusive.

Quality of life

The latest SWS survey also asked respondents about their quality of life in the past 12 months.

Twenty-three percent said their quality of life had improved, while 37 percent said it had worsened, for a “mediocre” net score of minus 13 points.

Net personal optimism by socioeconomic group decreased in Classes ABC (from +49 to +26) and E (from +36 to +24), but rose in Class D (from +33 to+35).

By region, net personal optimism fell 7 points in the Visayas (from +29 to +22) and 6 points in Mindanao (from +35 to +29), remained unchanged in MetroManila (+35), and rose 2 points in the rest of Luzon (from +37 to+39).

Net economic optimism also declined in the rest of Luzon (from +23 to +13), Visayas (from +11 to +4) and Mindanao (from +16 to +4) but slightly increased in Metro Manila (from +5 to +7).

Meanwhile, net economic optimism by socioeconomic groups declined by 8 points in Classes ABC (from +28 to +20) and D (from +17 to +9) and by 11 points in Class E (from +13 to+2).

For net personal optimism, SWS considers a rating of+30 and above as “very high;” +20 to +29 as “high;” +10 to +19 as “fair;” +1 to +9 as “mediocre;” zero to -9 as “low;” and -10 and below as “very low.”

For net economic optimism, SWS classifies a score of +10 and above as “very high;” +1 to +9 as “high;” zero to -9 as “fair;” -10 to -19 as “mediocre;” -20 to -29 as “low;” and -30 and below as “very low.”

The survey, which used face-toface interviews with 1,550 Filipinos, had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 2.5 percent.