The Filipino Middle Class is Shrinking!

The NSCB Executive Director, Dr. Romulo Virola challenged the policymakers during the 10th National Convention on Statistics late last year “to address the seemingly unnoticed but alarming trend. He warned in his blog that ‘we can no longer ignore the seemingly systematic shrinking of the group of professionals and skilled workers who can spell the difference between us being mired in poverty or crossing over to the league of First-World countries by 2020.’”

The recent release of the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) revealed that the population share of the Filipino middle class shrank in the country’s total population. The population share of the upper class likewise fell during the 1997-2003 period, resulting in a larger low income class. In a span of 6 years from 1997 to 2003, close to 4 families for every 100 middle income families have been lost to the low income category. The preliminary results of the 2006 FIES seem to indicate a ‘continuation of the pattern.’

He noted that the poverty reduction programs of the government have focused mainly on being “pro-poor,” “anti-poverty,” helping the “poorest provinces” etc but completely ignoring the needs of and the strategic importance of building and expanding the middle class of Philippine society. “For a country to be truly and sustainably prosperous there must be a broad-based middle class…that has the knowledge, the skills and the resources to foster economic growth and help generate employment for the poor.”

Dr. Virola said that the warning signs are clear and that the country’s policymakers should take notice.


Sources:

“The Shrinking Filipino Middle Class,” Dev Pulse, NEDA Development Advocacy Factsheet, Vol.12, No. 1, January 15, 2008;


“How Do We Measure Poverty?” Dev Pulse, NEDA Development Advocacy Factsheet, Vol. 11, No. 19, December 15, 2007