SWS: 34% of Filipinos say quality-of-life got worse in past 12 months

Thirty-four percent of Filipino adults said their quality-of-life was worse than 12 months before, the latest poll of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) has found.

The national survey conducted from April 19 to 27, 2022 also found that 32 percent of the 1,440 respondents considered their lives got better in the past 12 months while 34 percent said it stayed the same.

SWS classified those who said their lives became better as “gainers”, those who said it worsened as “losers” and those who think it remains the same as “unchanged”.

It resulted in a net gainer score (the percentage of gainers minus the percentage of losers) of -2 which the poll body rated as “fair.” This is 14 points higher than the December 2021 data of -16 (mediocre).

Despite the improvement, the most recent data is still 20 points below the pre-pandemic level of +18 (very high) recorded in December 2019.

“The survey question on the respondents’ assessment of their change in quality-of-life in the past 12 months has been fielded 144 times since April 1983,” the SWS said.

“The Net Gainer score was generally negative until 2015 when it rose to positive numbers until the drastic deterioration beginning with the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns. It has since trended back upwards but still has not reached the positive range,” it added.

According to the SWS, the boost in the country’s net gainer score between December 2021 and April 2022 was due to its increase in all areas of the country including Metro Manila where it rose from -11 (mediocre) to +4 (high).

Similar observations were reported in Balance Luzon where it eased from -11 (mediocre) to +1 (high); Visayas region with -31 (very low) to -12 (mediocre) and Mindanao with -15 (mediocre) to -4 (fair).

An increase in Net Gainers was also monitored among all education groups.

Non-elementary graduates posted a spike of 10 points from -19 (mediocre) in December 2021 to -9 (fair) in April 2022.

Elementary graduates reported an uptick of 4 points from -17 to -13 but remained under the mediocre category.

Junior High school graduates were up by 20 points from -17 (mediocre) to +3 (high) while college graduates reported an increase of 21 points from -7 (fair) to +14 (very high).

The pollster said the non-commissioned survey was conducted using face-to-face interviews. It has sampling error margins of ±2.6% for national percentages and ±5.2% for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.—LDF, GMA News