More Pinoys optimistic about quality of their lives for next 12 months

More Filipinos expressed optimism about the quality of their lives for the next 12 months, a survey conducted from December 5 to 10 last year indicated. Thirty-three percent of 2,100 adult respondents were found to "expect their personal quality of life to improve," latest findings of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey said. The SWS said only 12 percent “expect it to get worse," resulting in a Net Personal Optimism - or the difference of Optimists over Pessimists - score of +21. The Personal Optimism level compares to the +24 in September 2009, and a recovery from levels ranging from +17 to -6 in March 2008 to June 2009. Deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar said that the Palace wants the “vote of confidence" for President Arroyo to translate into support for the success of the May polls. “Bagama’t pababa siya hopefully itong optimism maging suporta para sa matagumpay na darating na first automated elections. Mahalaga rin yan sa ating kababayan," he said in an interview on dzXL radio. (Mrs. Arroyo may be stepping down soon, but we hope the optimism will translate into support for the success of our first automated elections, which is an important thing for Filipinos.) Net personal optimism above median In Net Personal Optimism, scores ranging from +20 to +29 are termed as “high" since they have gone above than what is normally expected, or are above the category containing the median and mode (termed as "fair", ranging from +10 to +19). On the forthcoming change in the Philippine economy as a whole, 23 percent were optimistic that the economy would get better and another 23 percent were pessimistic it would get worse, resulting in a Net Economic Optimism score of net zero. "Since June 2009, it has recovered from the double-digit negatives ranging from -19 to -39 of December 2007 to February 2009," SWS said. On the matter of the change in Personal Quality of Life compared to twelve months ago, 42 percent said their lives had worsened (“losers"), and 20 percent said it got better (“gainers"), for a net Gainers-Losers score of -22, similar to -24 in September 2009. In the case of Economic Optimism and gainers-losers trends, the most common answers, the median and modal, are in the “low" and “very low" categories. The term “fair" is assigned to the negative category (-9 to zero) since it is above what is normally expected. The term “mediocre" is then assigned to the category between “fair" and “low." Since 2006, the net gainers-losers have been at low to very low levels in 13 out of 18 SWS surveys. SWS indicators of future economic trends are the people's perceived directions of forthcoming change in their Personal Quality of Life and the economy as a whole. The indicator of the past economic trend is the people's perceived direction of change in their personal quality of Life from twelve months ago to the present. Personal Optimism in generally upward trend in all areas Over the past two years, Net Personal Optimism has been in a generally upward trend in all areas and classes, SWS said. Net Personal Optimism in Metro Manila rose to +22 in June, +31 in September, and +25 in December 2009, after being at levels ranging from +15 to +14 in December 2008 to February 2009. In Balance Luzon, Net Personal Optimism has ranged from +8 to +1 in June to September 2008 before it rose to levels ranging from +25 to +17 in December 2008 to December 2009. Net Personal Optimism in the Visayas has steadily risen from +11 in June, +14 in September, to +21 in December 2009. It used to range from +11 to -17 in December 2007 to February 2009. In Mindanao, it fell from +27 in September 2009 to +14 in December 2009, similar to the levels ranging from +17 to +11 in September 2008 to June 2009. In class ABC, Net Personal Optimism rose to +23 in September and +26 in December 2009, after ranging from +19 to +14 in December 2008 to June 2009. Net Personal Optimism in class D or the masa improved to +24 in September and +21 in December 2009, after ranging from +19 to +14 in December 2008 to June 2009. It has been mostly fair in class E from September 2008 to June 2009, falling to +5 only in February 2009. It rose to +25 in September before falling back to +19 in December 2009. Economic optimism improved across the board Net Economic Optimism has been at fair levels over the past two quarters in all areas and classes, improving from the mostly mediocre levels of February to June 2009. In Metro Manila, it rose to +5 in September and +6 in December 2009, from -18 in February and -12 in June 2009. It went to +2 in September and +3 in December 2009 in Balance Luzon, from -14 in February and -10 in June 2009. In the Visayas, Net Economic Optimism rose to -1 in September and -6 in December, from -33 in February and -11 in June 2009. Net Economic Optimism in Mindanao has ranged from +3 to -2 since June 2009, after ranging from -13 to -18 in September 2008 to February 2009. In class ABC, it improved to +4 in September and -5 in December 2009, after ranging from -17 to -45 in December 2007 to June 2009. Since June 2009, Net Economic Optimism has ranged from -1 to -9 in class D, improving from levels ranging from -18 to -41 in December 2007 to February 2009. In class E, Net Economic Optimism has ranged from +8 to -5 since June 2009, better than the levels ranging from -8 to -34 in December 2007 to February 2009. Net gainers-losers eased in some areas, but stayed low Compared to the previous quarter, the number of losers exceeding gainers eased in some areas, but remained low across the board. In both Metro Manila and the Visayas, it improved from -31 in September to -25 in December 2009. It eased slightly from -22 to -20 in Balance Luzon, and slightly worsened from -18 to -21 in Mindanao. Net gainers-losers improved slightly from -25 to -20 in class D. It worsened from -11 to -16 in class ABC, while it barely changed from -25 to -26 in class E. The Fourth Quarter of 2009 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 5 to 10, using face-to-face interviews of 2,100 adults divided into random samples of 300 in Metro Manila and 600 each in Balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. Sampling error margins of ±2.2% for national percentages, ±6% for Metro Manila and ±4% for Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, applied to the survey. - GMANews.TV