45% of Filipino fear losing jobs – Gallup

Nearly five in 10 Filipinos are afraid of losing jobs this year because of the global financial crisis, an international research firm reported.

In its “Voice of the People” survey released Monday, Gallup International said 45 percent of the Filipino respondents think that there is a chance that they may become unemployed in 2009.

The country ranked sixth out of the 46 countries that were surveyed.

The Gallup poll interviewed 33,891 people between October and early December 2008 and the survey represented the views of more than 1.5 billion global citizens.

In the Philippines, Gallup surveyed 1,000 respondents nationwide, using face-to-face interviews from November 3 to November 23 last year.

Gallup asked respondents about their labor prospects at the onset of the global financial crisis.

“The world crisis impacted people’s expectations on their country’s level of unemployment for the year to come,” said Meril James, secretary-general of Gallup International Association. “Despite this, interestingly, a similar proportion to the one found in our 2007 edition accepted they could be personally affected. Nevertheless, when faced with the possibility of losing their jobs, more people recognize that finding a new job would be difficult. Clearly, this will be a period of staying employed where one is currently.”

Most worried

Gallup said the top-10 countries where the highest levels of respondents who think that there is a chance that they may become jobless were Czech Republic, 58 percent; Peru, 55 percent; Cameroon, 49 percent; Kosovo, 47 percent; Serbia, 46 percent; Macedonia, 42 percent; Turkey, 41 percent; Columbia, 40 percent; Lebanon, 38 percent; and Bosina, 38 percent.

The survey also showed that skilled workers felt more confident about holding on to their jobs: the proportion of “safe” answers reaches 69 percent of the respondents with high level education, compared to 41 percent of those with only basic education.

Consequently, 42 percent of the less-educated respondents assess as positive the possibility of losing their job, while only 23 percent with high-level education do so.

The present job is also considered safer among those in household with higher income at 73 percent compared with those of lower income, 55 percent.

“More than a third of the interviewees from poorer household think they may lose their job,” Gallup added.

The list of the top-10 countries where most interviewees who are currently employed consider their jobs as being safe includes Denmark, 85 percent; Austria, 84 percent; The Netherlands, 81 percent; Australia, 81 percent; Canada, 80 percent; New Zealand, 79 percent; Norway, 79 percent, US, 78 percent; Germany, 77 percent and United Kingdom, 72 percent.

Gallup International is registered in Zurich as a verein, or association. It was established in 1947 and currently has member-agencies in 65 countries conducting market and opinion research in more than 100 nations. –Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter, Manila Times