MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The robust growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) in the Philippines, the second fastest in the region, next only to China, has failed to generate jobs for Filipinos and stop the rise in poverty incidence in the country.
A survey conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS), a reputable survey here, showed that the number of unemployed Filipinos in the last quarter of 2013 swelled to more than 12 million, or more than 10 percent of the country's total population of about 100 million.
The survey results, released Monday by the BusinessWorld, a local business daily that commissioned the survey, showed that unemployment rate rose to 27.5 percent, as 2.5 million Filipinos joined the ranks of the jobless between September and December last year.
The survey, conducted from Dec. 11-16, 2013 found that the level of joblessness across the country was almost 6 points higher than the 21.7 percent (some 9.6 million) in the previous quarter.
Another SWS survey, also conducted from Dec. 11-16, 2013, showed that 18.1 percent of the respondents-roughly equivalent to 3.90 million families-claimed to have gone hungry at least once in the past three months.
The December survey showed 55 percent of respondents - equivalent to around 11.8 million households - saying that they were poor, up five points from 50 percent three months earlier.
A survey by another polling outfit, Pulse Asia, found that 55 percent of Filipinos felt the national quality of life deteriorated in the past 12 months. They also expected the situation to remain the same for the whole of 2014.
Earlier, the Asian Development Bank, the Manila-based multilateral lending institution, noted that the Philippines' growth has not generated enough jobs.
According to the ADB, while growth in the Philippines will be seen moderating this year, it will still be one of the best performers in the region.
"Inflation is modest and projected to remain so. However, vigorous growth has not generated adequate employment, allowing the unemployment rate to rise and underemployment to remain high," the ADB said in a report.
Analysts here are wondering whether the present government of President Benigno Aquino III can really resolve these contradictory economic indicators: highest unemployment rate and poverty incidence and fastest economic growth.
"With its economic expansion showing some signs of weakness, what kind of future can Filipinos expect?" Benjamin Diokno, a respected economic analyst and professor of economics of the University of the Philippines, asked.
Diokno, a former budget minister, said that nine out of every 10 Filipinos or 90 percent did not feel the 7.2 percent GDP growth that the country achieved in 2013.
"This suggests that the strong growth was narrow and shallow. It was far from being inclusive," Diokno said.
Quoting the most recent International Labor Organization (ILO) unemployment data, the Philippines has the worst unemployment rate among ASEAN countries and Asia, including China and India.
The ILO data show that in 2013, the Philippines unemployment rate was 7.33 percent, followed by Indonesia, 6.04 percent; Myanmar, 3.5 percent; Malaysia, 3.21 percent; Singapore, 3.1 percent; Vietnam, 1.94 percent; Laos, 1.41 percent; Thailand, 0.76 percent; and Cambodia, 0.4 percent.
ILO said that last year, China and India had 4.59 percent and 3. 69 percent unemployment rate respectively.
Diokno also questioned whether the government's massive infusion of public funds through its Conditional Cash Transfer ( CCT) program has worked to ease poverty among the poorest of the poor in the Philippines.
In 2013, the CCT program had a budget of P44.2 billion (about $1 billion); this year, its outlay was increased to P62.6 million (about $1.4 billion).
According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development ( DSWD), the implementor of the program, the CCT is expected to benefit 4.5 million households and 4.2 million school children.
Since based on recent survey results, the CCT program has not stopped the rise in poverty incidence, Diokno called for a reevaluation of its implementation, which is now on its fifth year.
He said that the reevaluation should find out whether CCT program really delivers on its promises and whether there are better ways of achieving its objective, which is to minimize dropout rates of poor students.