Gadon botches PH economic figures

In praising the Marcos administration’s economic policies, Larry Gadon made mistakes with the figures he cited on poverty and employment in the country.

Gadon, who serves as presidential adviser for poverty alleviation, was asked about the state of poverty in the country in a May 17 interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon program.

On poverty incidence

“Malaking ibinaba ng poverty incidence kasi noong nakaraang taon ay meron pa tayong 24.7% of poverty rate. Itong taon na ito, itong present data, ay bumaba ito ng 23.4[%], so nabawasan ito ng 1.3% doon sa previous data and this is translated to around 11 million families.”

Source: PTV Philippines, PANOORIN: Pagtalakay sa mahahalagang serbisyo ng pamahalaan…, May 17, 2024, watch from 14:11 to 14:55

FACT

False. While poverty incidence went down in the first semester of 2023, this does not translate to 11 million Filipino families becoming less poor, latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) show.

Based on the preliminary results of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey in July 2023, poverty incidence was at 16.4% or around 4.51 million families.

Compared to 2021 when the previous figures were released, 18% or about 4.74 million families were considered poor. The difference is estimated at 230,000 families.

Poverty incidence is the proportion of Filipinos whose per capita income is insufficient to meet their basic food and non-food needs.

Marcos promised in his state of the nation address in July 2022 to bring down the poverty rate to 9% by 2028 when his term expires.

On employment rate

“Ang ating employment rate, ang ating latest data diyan ay umabot tayo ng 95.6% from a very low, no’ng time no’ng pandemic. Hindi na natin alam kung gaano kababa ang employment rate, eh. Tantya ko, siguro mga 70 to 80% lang dahil milyon ang nawalan ng trabaho.”

Source: watch from 15:51 to 16:15

FACT

False. The employment rate as of March 2024 was at 96.1%, up from 95.3% for the same period last year. Employment rates during the pandemic, from 2020 to 2023, were between 89.7% and 95.7% and did not drop to the level cited by Gadon.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, the unemployment rate was at 10.3%, which translated to about 4.5 million jobless Filipinos, the highest since April 2005.

The World Health Organization declared the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency on May 5, 2023.

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