Pulse Asia: July 2008 Nationwide Survey on Quality of Life, State of the Economy

MEDIA RELEASE
(July 30, 2008)

Pulse Asia’s July 2008 Ulat ng Bayan Survey:
Media Release on Quality of Life and
State of the National Economy
30 July 2008

Difficult times persist for most Filipinos with big majorities considering themselves and the nation as a whole as losers

Amidst the continuing oil and food crises, 75% of Filipinos say they are worse off now than a year ago while 84% believe most of their countrymen are in the same boat as they are. Across all geographic areas and socio-economic classes, majorities ranging from 58% in Metro Manila to 84% in Mindanao consider themselves to be losers while with respect to the national situation, 72% to 94% say most Filipinos are worse off now relative to last year. In contrast, only 7% consider their situation to have improved in the past 12 months while 3% feel the national quality of life (QOL) is better now than last year. Additionally, the view that their personal QOL and the national situation have remained unchanged over the last year is articulated by 17% and 12% of Filipinos, respectively (See Tables 1 and 2).

There are hardly any movements in the percentages of Filipinos who considerthemselves to be gainers – both at the national level and across geographic areas as wellas socio-economic classes – between March and July 2008. However, more Filipinosnow see themselves as losers than in March 2008 (75% versus 59%) while the percentageof Filipinos saying there has been no change in their personal circumstances in the last 12months drops from 31% to 17% during this period. More particularly, there are nowmore losers in nearly all geographic areas and socio-economic classes than in March2008 (+12 to +26 percentage points) – the exception being in Metro Manila. Meanwhile,the percentage of Filipinos reporting no change in their personal QOL drops by doubledigitmargins in the rest of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Classes D and E (-10 to -23percentage points) (Table 3).

The same patterns may be noted as far as the national QOL is concerned. Whilethe percentage of Filipinos saying the national QOL worsened goes up by 13 percentagepoints, the overall figure for those claiming the situation of most Filipinos remained thesame in the last 12 months drops by 11 percentage points. Relative to March 2008, moreFilipinos now consider the national situation to be worse now than last year acrossgeographic areas and socio-economic classes (+13 to +19 percentage points) – except inMetro Manila. And the sentiment that the national QOL is unchanged becomes lessmanifest in the Visayas, Mindanao, and all socio-economic classes (-10 to -15 percentagepoints) (Table 4).

Pessimism as regards personal and national quality of life (QOL) in the year ahead is expressed by big majorities of Filipinos

About two in three Filipinos (64%) express pessimism about their personalcircumstances in the next 12 months while an even bigger percentage (79%) ispessimistic about the national situation. Near to big majorities (48% to 73%) expect to beworse off in the year ahead while pessimism as regards the national QOL is expressed by69% to 88% of Filipinos across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings. On theother hand, 12% of Filipinos expect a better year ahead for them but only 4% areoptimistic about the situation of most Filipinos next year. Almost a quarter of theFilipino population (23%) does not expect any change – positive or negative – in theirpersonal QOL and 16% say the same thing with respect to the national QOL (See Tables5 and 6).

As far as their personal situation is concerned, Filipinos’ sense of pessimismbecomes more pronounced between March and July 2008 (+27 percentage points). Thesame observation holds true across geographic areas and socio-economic classes – from+16 percentage points in Mindanao to +34 in the rest of Luzon. At the same time, thereis a 10-percentage point decline in the overall level of optimism and an 18-percentagepoint drop in the percentage of Filipinos expecting no change in their personal QOL inthe year ahead. Levels of optimism decrease by double-digit margins in Metro Manila,the rest of Luzon, and Classes ABC and D (-10 to -20 percentage points). Additionally,the percentage of Filipinos who expect their personal QOL to remain the same betweennow and next year declines by -12 to -22 percentage points in almost all geographic areasand socio-economic classes – with Metro Manila and Class ABC being the exceptions(Table 7)

With respect to the national QOL, the overall level of pessimism rises by 27percentage points while the overall level of optimism drops by 9 percentage pointsbetween March and July 2008. Also during this period, the percentage of Filipinosexpecting no change in the national QOL declines by 18 percentage points. Pessimismbecomes more manifest between March and July 2008 (+10 to +38 percentage points) inall geographic areas and socio-economic classes with the biggest increase being recordedin the rest of Luzon. On the other hand, optimism levels drop by double-digit margins inClass D (-11 percentage points) and the rest of Luzon (-16 percentage points).Meanwhile, the percentages of those who expect the national QOL to remain the samebetween now and next year decrease by double-digit margins (-18 to -24 percentagepoints) in all socio-economic groupings and almost all geographic areas (with theexception being Mindanao) (See Table 8).

Almost nine in ten Filipinos (86%) consider the state of the national economy tohave worsened between 2005 and 2008

Despite claims of economic growth by the national administration, 86% ofFilipinos say the national economy has worsened in the last three years – a viewarticulated by big to overwhelming majorities (76% to 93%) across all geographic areasand socio-economic classes. Only 4% of Filipinos believe otherwise while 10% believethere has been no change in the state of the national economy between 2005 and 2008.Compared to data from Pulse Asia’s March 2008 Ulat ng Bayan survey, there are nowmore Filipinos saying the national economy deteriorated in the last three years (66%versus 86%) (See Tables 9 and 10).

A big majority (81%) of those saying the state of the national economy worsenedin the past three years reports having strongly felt the impact of this deterioration on theirown lives. This sentiment is shared by 73% of those in Metro Manila and Class ABC to88% of those in the Visayas. In contrast, 15% somewhat felt while 3% did not feel theeffects of this economic deterioration in their own lives. On the other hand, among thevery few saying the national economy grew in the last three years, a near majority (48%)somewhat felt the effects of this economic improvement while 29% strongly felt theimpact of the growth in the national economy and 23% did not feel it at all. Thesefigures do not differ significantly from those registered in March 2008 (See Tables 9 and10).