Filipino optimism 'very high' for 2017 —SWS poll

Most Filipinos have “very high” optimism in the quality of life and economy for 2017, a December 2016 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) revealed.

Poll results showed that 37 percent of the respondents said their lives improved, or “gainers,” over the past 12 months, while 21 percent said their lives worsened, “or losers,” during the same period.

This resulted in a +16 “net gainers” score, which the SWS classified as “very high,” and stable from September 2016’s “very high” score of +19.

Meanwhile, 48 percent of the survey respondents said they expect their personal quality of life to improve in the next 12 months, while three percent expect it to get worse, resulting in a “very high” +45 net personal optimism score, SWS said.

This was also stable from September’s “very high” score of +43 and June’s record-high +46 score.

Net personal optimism “has been at +40 and above for the past five quarters,” SWS added.

PHL economy

Moreover, 51 percent of the respondents said they are expecting that the general Philippine economy will improve in the next 12 months, while eight percent said otherwise, resulting in a “net optimism about the economy” score of a “very high” +43, SWS said.

This score, the poll results showed, was stable from September’s score of +44.

“In the case of net optimism about the economy, the most common answers—historically speaking—have been highly negative,” said SWS.

SWS classifies scores of at least +30 as “very high,” +20 to +29 as “high,” the +10 to +19 range containing the historical median and mode—or the normally expected—as “fair,” +1 to +9 as “mediocre” as it is below what is normally expected, zero to - 9 as “low,” and - 10 and below as “very low.”

The survey, conducted from December 3 to 6 last year, was participated by 1,500 adults nationwide with sampling error margins of ±3 points for national percentages, ±4 for Balance Luzon and ±6 each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Poll results were first published on the website of BusinessWorld. —KG, GMA News