Economic issues remain the foremost concern of Filipinos in July 2025, with inflation, food, and wages leading the list of urgent problems, according to a recent survey conducted by OCTA Research.
The public opinion research organization’s Tugon ng Masa (TNM) nationwide survey in July revealed that half of Filipino adults, or 50 percent, continue to see rising prices of basic goods and services as their most urgent concern.
This is followed by access to affordable food such as rice, vegetables, and meat at 31 percent, improving or increasing wages at 26 percent, and reducing poverty at 23 percent.
Survey results also showed that inflation was most pronounced in Mindanao and the National Capital Region (NCR) at 60 percent and 53 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, demand for wage increases was strongest in Visayas at 39 percent and NCR at 33 percent.
Compared to the April survey results, concern over economic issues dropped significantly. Price hikes saw a sharp decline of 14 percent from 64 percent in April to 50 percent in July, marking the steepest drop within the year.
Concern over access to affordable food also fell by 10 percent from 41 percent to 31 percent, the second-lowest urgency rating since January 2021.
Similarly, the demand for wage increase dropped from 37 percent to 26 percent, the lowest urgency rating since January 2021 as well.
OCTA Research’s face-to-face survey was conducted from July 12 to 17, with 1,200 adult respondents.
The survey has a ±3 percent margin of error at a 95% confidence level. Subnational estimates for the geographic areas covered in the study have the following margins of error at a 95 percent confidence level: ±6 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
