Filipino optimism regarding the national economic outlook over the next 12 months has registered a notable recovery, according to the second-quarter survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) from June 20 to 29.
The poll revealed that 33 percent of adult Filipinos expect the Philippine economy to improve. Described by SWS as “Economic Optimists,” this figure reflects a recovery from 25 percent in March and remains unchanged compared to the same period last year.
Conversely, 24 percent of respondents, classified as “Economic Pessimists,” believe the economy will worsen, down significantly from 39 percent in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, 32 percent anticipated conditions will stay the same or remain neutral (up from 26 percent), and 11 percent did not offer an answer (nearly steady from 10 percent).
The resulting net economic optimism score, calculated by subtracting the percentage of economic pessimists from economic optimists, rebounded to +10. The 24-point increase from March’s rating of -14 prompted SWS to upgrade the net economic outlook classification from “low” to “fair.”
SWS categorizes its Net Economic Optimism scores into several tiers: +40 and above as “Excellent,” +30 to +39 as “Very High,” +20 to +29 as “High,” +10 to +19 as “Fair,” –9 to +9 as “Mediocre,” –19 to –10 as “Low,” –29 to –20 as “Very Low,” –30 to –39 as “Extremely Low” and –40 and below as “Execrable.”
Broad Gains Across Regions and Demographics
The survey recorded improvements in net economic optimism across all geographic divisions. Balance Luzon logged the highest net score at +18 (climbing from -13), followed by the Visayas at +6 (from -16) and Mindanao at +4 (from -8).The National Capital Region (NCR) registered a net score of -6, representing a significant recovery from -30 in the previous quarter.
Optimism also posted widespread gains across all educational attainment levels. Non-elementary graduates led the increase at +20 (up from +2), followed by elementary graduates at +12 (from -7) and vocational or junior high school graduates at +10 (from -19). Individuals with a college degree or postgraduate studies recorded a rating of -7, moving up from -35.
Additionally, the polling agency noted a rise in optimism among self-rated poor households, which rose to +3 from -23. Among respondents who expect their personal quality of life to improve in the coming year, net economic optimism reached +23 (up from +7), while those whose lives improved over the last 12 months (“gainers”) recorded a score of +27 (up from +8).
The nationwide survey was conducted among 1,200 adult respondents using face-to-face interviews, maintaining a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages.