MANILA, Philippines - Increasing the salary of workers remained the most urgent concern of Filipinos, a new survey by Pulse Asia showed.
The poll, taken from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1, found that 46 percent of 1,200 respondents cited the need to increase workers’ wages as the top issue the administration of President Duterte should address.
Filipinos are also most concerned about creating more jobs (38 percent), controlling inflation (37 percent), fighting corruption in government (32 percent), reducing poverty (32 percent) and fighting criminality (31 percent).
Other national concerns deemed urgent by Filipinos include promoting peace in the country (20 percent), enforcing the rule of law (14 percent), reducing the amount of taxes paid by citizens (12 percent), protecting the environment (10 percent), controlling rapid population growth (nine percent) and protecting the welfare of overseas Filipino workers (eight percent).
In contrast, Filipinos are least concerned about terrorism (five percent), national territorial integrity (five percent) and Charter change (two percent).
Meanwhile, the Duterte administration enjoyed majority approval scores (51 percent to 89 percent) on all 12 issues on which it is performance-rated in September, Pulse Asia said.
Levels of approval range from 51 percent for its efforts to control inflation to 89 percent for its anti-crime initiatives, the pollster said.
In contrast, Filipinos are most critical of its work in the area of controlling the spiraling cost of commodities (17 percent).
The survey used personal interviews of 1,200 representative adults 18 years old and above. It has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level.
Pulse Asia also noted that increasing workers’ wage was the only national issue cited as urgent across all geographic areas and socio-economic groups.
“Across geographic areas and socio-economic groupings, the only majority urgent national concern is workers’ pay, which is cited by 53 percent of those belonging to the poorest Class E,” it said.
In the rest of Luzon and Class D, the most often cited urgent national concerns are workers’ pay (45 percent to 49 percent) and job creation (38 percent).
Metro Manila residents are more concerned about workers’ pay (46 percent), job creation (35 percent), corruption (35 percent) and criminality (32 percent).
In the Visayas, Filipinos are concerned about workers’ pay (45 percent), job creation (39 percent), inflation (33 percent) and corruption (33 percent).
In Mindanao, the most often mentioned concerns are inflation (48 percent), workers’ pay (41 percent) and job creation (40 percent).
Among those in Class ABC, their top concerns are inflation (38 percent), workers’ pay (37 percent), corruption (37 percent), criminality (37 percent), job creation (28 percent), peace (27 percent), poverty (24 percent), taxation (20 percent) and population growth (15 percent).
On the other hand, Filipinos in all geographic areas and socio-economic grouping are least concerned about preparing to successfully face terrorist threats; defending national territorial integrity against foreigners and amending the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
“Between July and September 2016, levels of public concern for various issues remain essentially constant. The only significant movement during this period is the drop in the percentage of Filipinos who identify criminality as an urgent national concern (-21 percentage points),” the pollster said.
“The other changes are marginal in nature, including the increase in the level of concern for workers’ pay and job creation (both at +6 percentage points),” it added.