More Filipinos felt there were no perceptible changes in their lives over the past year, according to the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey.
The Sept. 28 to Oct. 1 SWS poll also showed that more respondents asserted that their quality of life got worse and that they were better off a year ago.
According to the survey, SWS found 28 percent of adult Filipinos were “gainers.” These were the people who claimed their quality of life improved over the past year.
On the other hand, 30 percent were “losers” or people who said it got worse for them, and 41 percent claimed nothing changed for them during the past 12 months.
The September score was 13 points below the very high plus-11 in a similar survey last June, the SWS said, adding that the lowest since the minus-2 last posted in June 2022.
Inflation in September rose to 6.1 percent despite a government price cap on rice, the Philippine Statistics Authority said.
Food prices that month were up 9.7 percent year-on-year while transport costs also rose, it said.
Inflation — how quickly prices rise in a given period — is felt more drastically by the poor, with the PSA saying inflation for the bottom 30 percent of households reached 6.9 percent in September.
The pollster subtracts the percentage of Losers from the percentage of Gainers to come up with the Net Gainers score.
That score in the latest survey was -2, which SWS classifies as “Fair” on a scale that ranges from “Excellent” to “Catastrophic.”
The score had been generally negative until 2015 and rose after that before the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic led to a “drastic deterioration,” SWS said.
The Net Gainers scores were lowest among those who rated themselves poor — down by 5 points from -4 in June to -9 in the latest survey — and among respondents who were elementary school graduates — down by 9 points to -10 — or who only received elementary education.
Among non-elementary graduates, the Net Gainers score dropped by 16 points to a “mediocre” -15 from a “fair” +1 in June. With Vito Barcelo
“The Net Gainers score has historically been lower among the Poor than the Borderline and Not Poor,” SWS said.
“This means the Poor have more Losers and fewer Gainers than the Borderline and Not Poor.”
The scores decreased but remained at “high” among college graduates — down by 16 points to +9 from +25 — and junior high school graduates — down by 14 points to +3 from +17. With Vito Barcelo