Poverty-reduction gains at risk-WB

While the Philippines has made strides in reducing poverty, uncertainties wrought by the looming global trade war may reverse some gains, according to the World Bank.

- BY BEN ARNOLD DE VERA

"Employment indicators suggest continued poverty reduction since 2023. The unemployment rate fell to 3.8 percent in 2024 (from 4.4 percent in 2023), and over 500,000 and 260,000 jobs were added in transportation and construction, respectively, during 2024," the Washington-based multilateral lender noted in a poverty and equity brief it disclosed on April 22.

Last year's jobless rate was the lowest since at least 2005, when the Philippine government adopted its current employment metrics.

"Consequently, the share of the population living on less than $3.65 per day (2017 purchasing power parities or PPP) is projected to have fallen to 12.6 percent in 2024," the World Bank added.

"However, the current global economic uncertainty means the extent of future poverty reduction is unclear," the World Bank warned.

While the Philippines has closed almost a third of its well-being gap with high-income nations since the year 2000, the World Bank pointed out that average income in the country would need to grow by a factor of 4.4 to reach the daily prosperity threshold worth $25, citing its 2023 prosperity gap indicator.

Also, the lender lamented that even as the rising number of wage employees—many of whom used to work in the low-productivity agriculture sector—hiked poor households' incomes quicker than before for a decade now, the country "remains one of the most unequal countries in the region, with substantial variation in well-being and opportunities across its provinces."