SWS poll: Pinoys getting poorer

Filipinos feel the quality of their life deteriorated this year and are coping with hard times by tightening their belts, according to the latest survey of a leading poll body.

In the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, 56 percent of adults interviewed said the quality of their life had gone down since 12 months ago while only 14 percent said it had improved. Only 29 percent were optimistic that the quality of their life would improve in the next 12 months while 27 percent were pessimistic about it.

Only 15 percent were optimistic about the economy next year while 51 percent were pessimistic. A low 13 percent felt there would be more jobs available, compared to 63 percent who felt there would be fewer jobs.

Still, Filipinos have shown the ability to cope by tightening their belts, the SWS said.

Self-rated poverty, which refers to those who identify themselves with the word mahirap or poor, declined to 60 percent in November from 63 percent in September and 66 percent in July. Every one percent amounts to about 150,000 households.

"The evidence of belt-tightening can be seen in the fact that for two quarters in succession, the median ‘self-rated poverty threshold’ of poor people has been only P6,000 per month, whereas it used to be P9,000 three quarters ago," the SWS said.

The median is the budget for home expenses that the worse-off half of poor families say is enough to avoid feeling "poor."

People are also lowering their standards for food as shown by the median "self-rated food threshold" of poor people being only P3,000 per month in this quarter and the last quarter, although it has already reached P4,000 per month three quarters ago.

The said median is the food budget that the worse-off half of families say is enough to avoid feeling poor.

The November survey also found many signs of continued stress.

"Moderate hunger, or the proportion of households who went hungry once or only a few times in the last quarter rose from 5.7 percent in September to 7.1 percent in November."

When asked if they lacked money for their usual needs in the past 12 months, 53 percent of respondents said it happened often or always, whereas 33 percent said it happened once or a few times.