39% of Pinoys see their quality of life improving – SWS

Nearly two out of five Filipinos or 39 percent were optimistic that their quality of life would improve in the next 12 months, a 2014 third quarter poll taken by the Social Weather Stations found.

The SWS poll also found that nine percent believed otherwise or did not believe their quality of life would improve in 12 months, for a “very high” +30 net personal optimism score for the third quarter.

The third quarter net optimism score was slightly below the +31 (39 percent optimists, 8 percent pessimists) in June.

As to how their quality of life had changed over the last 12 months, 26 percent (from 22 percent in in the second quarter) said it had improved (gainers).

Some 34 percent (from Q2’s 37 percent) said it worsened (losers), yielding a “fair” -8 net gainers score, almost halving the the second quarter’s “mediocre” -14.

The SWS classifies net personal optimism scores of at least +30 as “very high”; +20 to +29 as “high”; +10 to +19, the historical median and mode “or what is normally expected” as “fair”; +1 to +9, “mediocre”; zero to -9, “low”; and -10 and below, “very low.”

The poll was taken from Sept. 26 to 29, with 1,200 respondents nationwide. It had sampling error margins of ±3% for national and ±6% for area percentages.

Economy

The third quarter poll also found that 30 percent of Filipinos were bullish on the economy for the next 12 months – the highest this year, compared to 26 percent in June.

Some 19 percent, meanwhile, said the economy would deteriorate, less than the 24 percent in the last quarter.

The net economic optimism score was thus a “very high” +11, the highest since the “very high” +17 in September 2013. In the second quarter of 2014, economic optimism was a “high” +2.

The SWS pointed out that “the most common answers, historically speaking, have been highly negative” when it came to net optimism about the economy.

The pollster thus classifies scores of at least +10 as “very high”; +1 to +9 as “high”; zero to -9 as “fair”; -10 to -19, “mediocre”; -20 to -20, “low”; as well as -30 and below as “very low.”

Projections on the Philippine economy in a First Metro Investment Corp. and University of Asia & the Pacific (UA&P) joint report said the Philippine economic output in the second semester was well on its way to surpass the 6 percent expansion registered in the first half of the year.

But the report went on to say that meeting the 6.5 to 7.5 percent government target for the whole year was a long shot.

Economic Planning Secretary and NEDA Director-General Arsenio Balisacan himself had admitted that, though achieving the lower end of the range was still a possibility, the upper end was “a huge challenge.”

Geographically, socio-economic class

The SWS explained that the marginal one-point decline in net personal optimism was due to improvemed scores in Metro Manila and “Balance Luzon”, and declines in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Metro Manila’s net optimism score stayed “very high”, up two points to +35 in September – the strongest this year.

It was a a “very high” +34 in Balance Luzon, also up by two points and also the highest this year.

But net optimism in Mindanao, fell two points to +31 from June’s +33, though it stayed in “very high” territory.

In the Visayas, net optimism downgraded to a “fair” +17 in September, from a “high” +27 in June.

Net personal optimism saw slight declines across all socioeconomic classes, though it remained “very high” among Classes ABC and D or the “masa,” and “high” for Class E.

Class ABC recorded a four-point drop to +34 from +38 in June.

Meanwhile, net optimism “barely moved” in Class D, to +31 from +32. It also remained stable in Class E, at +26 from +28.

On the economy, net optimism upgraded across most geographic areas except in the Visayas where it remained at a “very high” +13, and across socioeconomic classes.

Economic optimism rose two levels to a “high” +5 from a “mediocre” -14 in June in Metro Manila.

In Balance Luzon, it improved to a “very high” +11 from a “fair” -1 in June.

In Mindanao, where net optimism on the economy had been “very high” in 11 out of 18 polls since 2010 and “high” in the seven others, economic optimism was upgraded to a “very high” +12 from a “high” +7 in June.

By socioeconomic class, net optimism on the economy was improved in Class ABC to a “very high” from a “high” +3 in June.

It also improved to a “very high” +14 in Class E, up eight points from a “high” +6 in June.

In Class D, it stayed “very high”, up eight points to +9 from +1.

Quality of life

In terms of personal quality of life in the last 12 months, it stayed “fair” in Metro Manila, hardly moving to -8 from -9.

It improved in Balance Luzon to a “fair” -4, the best since June 2013, from a “mediocre” -14.

It went up two levels in the Visayas to a “mediocre” -11, the best since September 2013, from a “very low” -33.

However, it degraded in Mindanao to a “mediocre” -14, the worst since a “mediocre” -19 in September 2013, from a “fair” -3 in June.

Net gainers upgrades were seen in most socioeconomic classes in the third quarter, except Class D where it went up from -13 to -11, staying at the “mediocre” level.

Classes ABC and E saw net gainers rise by two grades.

There was a 15-point increase to “very high” +15 in September from “fair” zero in June in Class ABC, and an 18-point increase to a “fair” -6 from a “low” -24 in Class E. — Joel Locsin/DVM, GMA News