SWS: Pessimism among Pinoys reaches record high
| 08/11/2008 1:18 PM
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Pessimism among Filipinos is steadily rising, according to a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, with a record 62 percent of adult Filipinos saying their lives have worsened in the past 12 months.
The survey found 30 percent of 1,200 nationwide respondents saying that they expect their personal quality of life to get worse in the next 12 months, dominating the 24 percent expecting it to improve.
The June 27-30, 2008 survey echoed the findings of a similar survey conducted by private pollster Pulse Asia, which saw 75 percent of Filipinos seeing themselves as losers because of their worsening quality of life.
The SWS survey results showed that 52 percent of 1,200 respondents expect the economy to worsen next year compared to 12 percent who said it would get better. Only 12 percent admitted that their personal quality of life had gotten better compared to 12 months ago.
SWS said the proportion of those saying their personal quality of life worsened from a year ago has steadily risen over the past four quarters, from 42 percent in September 2007, 45 percent in December 2007, 50 percent in March 2008 and 62 percent in June.
The polling firm also said the latest survey results showed a widening gap among pessimists and optimists in all geographical areas and all classes. "The latest Gainers-Losers gap of –50 is the worst since SWS began monitoring in April 1983," SWS said in a statement.
Compared to the previous quarter, the Gainers-Losers gap worsened by 22 points in Balance Luzon, from –23 to –45, a new record-high gap for that area. In the Visayas, it fell by 19 points, from –42 to –61, surpassing the previous record-high gap of –60 in October 2000.
It fell by 18 points in Mindanao, from –32 to –50, and by 8 points in Metro Manila, from –44 to –52.
Upper classes feel the pinch
The survey also showed a rise in pessimism among the ABC upper middle classes. The Gainers-Losers gap for these groups worsened from net –6 in March to –41 in June.
It fell by 18 points among the masa Class Ds, from –32 to –50, returning to its record-high gap first reported in July 1985, and fell by 13 points among Class Es, from –40 to –53, a new record-high for this group.
SWS said the number of pessimistic Filipinos is higher than Filipinos who are hopeful about the future. Over the past five quarters, the proportion of Personal Pessimists has increased steadily from 11 percent in June 2007 up to 30 percent in June 2008, while Personal Optimists has declined steadily since 32 percent in September 2007 to 24 percent last June.
This brought Net Personal Optimism, or the difference of Personal Optimists over Personal Pessimists, steadily down from +22 in June 2007, +18 in September 2007, +14 in December 2007, +6 in March 2008, to –6 in June 2008.
It fell by 12 points among class Es, from –1 to –13, by 11 points among class Ds, from +6 to –5, and by 8 points among classes ABCs, from +22 to +14 [Chart 6, Table 6].
Pessimism that the Philippine economy would get worse in the coming year rose from 45 percent in March to 52 percent in June, while optimism fell from 15 percent to 12 percent, bringing Net Economic Optimism down from –29 to –39.
"Optimism about the future economy is based on a question about the economy in general and not about oneself in particular. It is normal to be more optimistic about one's own quality of life than about the economy as a whole," SWS said.
