The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) releases its latest report today on the country’s official poverty statistics for the basic sectors for 2015. PSA report provides the estimates of poverty incidence for 9 of the 14 basic sectors identified in Republic Act 8425 or the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act using the income and sectoral data from the merged Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) and Labor Force Survey (LFS).
5 of the 9 basic sectors have higher poverty incidence than the general population
Among the nine basic sectors, farmers, fishermen and children belonging to families with income below the official poverty threshold or poor families posted the highest poverty incidences in 2015 at 34.3%, 34.0% and 31.4%, respectively. These sectors consistently registered as the three sectors with the highest poverty incidence in 2006, 2009 and 2012. Also, 5 of the 9 basic sectors consisting of farmers, fishermen, children, self-employed and unpaid family workers, and women, belonging to poor families, had higher poverty incidence than the general population estimated at 21.6% in 2015.
Table 1. Poverty Incidence for Basic Sectors: 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority
a/ Considering data available in the Philippine Statistical System, poverty estimates for self-employed and unpaid family workers, which serve as a proxy indicator for informal sector workers, have been generated since the June 2012 release of the 2009 Poverty Statistics for the Basic Sectors.
Notes:
1/ Basic sectors are not mutually exclusive, i.e., there are overlaps for sectors (women may also be counted as senior citizens, farmers, etc.)
2/ Income derived from the FIES, which was used for classifying poor or non-poor basic sectors, refer to the total family income and not necessarily the income of the individual in a particular sector. Hence, total income of a family with two family members who are both working, one is a farmer while the other is a fisherman, for example, is divided among the family members to get the per capita income of each member including the farmer. If the per capita income is below the poverty threshold, then all the members of the family are considered poor.
2/ Income derived from the FIES, which was used for classifying poor or non-poor basic sectors, refer to the total family income and not necessarily the income of the individual in a particular sector. Hence, total income of a family with two family members who are both working, one is a farmer while the other is a fisherman, for example, is divided among the family members to get the per capita income of each member including the farmer. If the per capita income is below the poverty threshold, then all the members of the family are considered poor.
3/ Poverty estimates for the three other basic sectors, i.e., indigenous people, persons with disabilities, and victims of calamities and disasters were not generated as information on these were not available in the merged FIES and LFS, the major data sources for the estimation of poverty statistics for the basic sectors. On the other hand, poverty estimates for the remaining two sectors, i.e., nongovernment organization, and cooperatives are not generated as they are not applicable due to the nature of the sector (i.e., not individuals).
Poverty incidence among employed and unemployed Filipinos who belong to poor families registered at 18.0% and 16.4%, respectively, in 2015
Similar in 2006, 2009 and 2012, employed individuals belonging to poor families posted higher incidence in 2015 with 18% compared to the unemployed with 16.4%. It may be noted, however, that the difference between the poverty incidence among employed and unemployed has declined through the years.
Table 2. Poverty Incidence for Employed and Unemployed Population: 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2015
Source: Philippine Statistics Authority
a/ PSA releases poverty estimates for the employed population starting with the June 2012 release of the 2009 Poverty Statistics for the Basic Sectors in response to the need to measure the country’s performance towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) target on achieving full and productive employment and decent work, i.e., indicator 1.6 or the proportion of employed people living below the national poverty thresholds. Similarly, poverty incidence for unemployed population was generated for comparison.
b/ Poverty incidence among employed population refers to the proportion of employed individuals who belong to poor families to the total number of employed individuals. On the other hand, poverty incidence among unemployed population refers to the proportion of unemployed individuals who belong to poor families to the total number of unemployed individuals.
LISA GRACE S. BERSALES, PH.D.
Undersecretary
National Statistician and Civil Registrar General
