Making Growth Work for the Poor : A Poverty Assessment for the Philippines
The report emphasizes the importance of breaking the cycle of inequitable investment in human capital and lack of well-paying job opportunities that trap the poor in poverty, generation after generation. Children from poor households start life at...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Manila
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/548291528442369215/Making-growth-work-for-the-poor-a-poverty-assessment-for-the-Philippines http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29960 |
| Summary: | The report emphasizes the importance of
breaking the cycle of inequitable investment in human
capital and lack of well-paying job opportunities that trap
the poor in poverty, generation after generation. Children
from poor households start life at a disadvantage.
Malnourished and stunted, with poor access to quality health
care, they are less likely to learn the skills they need and
fulfill their potential. As adults, therefore, they earn low
incomes and cannot afford to invest in their own children.
They have little to meet their basic needs and nothing to
save against emergencies. Frequent natural disasters buffet
the poor, whose limited means to cope and disproportionate
suffering push them deeper into poverty. Poverty is a threat
to peace. In the parts of the country affected by conflict,
where physical assets have been destroyed, families
displaced, and human capital eroded, people are trapped in a
cycle of conflict and poverty. In addition to the challenges
of addressing poverty, the Philippines is hindered by the
limited expansion of its middle class. In the East Asia
region over 2002-2015, the share of population that is
economically secure and middle class increased from just
over one fifth to nearly two-thirds, but the share in the
Philippines increased from 37 percent to just 44 percent.
The lack of well-paying jobs limited the gains for labor
from structural transformation. Every year, 1 percent of the
employment shifted out of agriculture, but most of those
workers end up in low-end services jobs. Such limited gains
for labor could negatively affect the country’s long-term
competitiveness. The report concludes that making the
pattern of growth more inclusive and providing more
well-paying jobs will be crucial to helping people achieve
higher and more stable incomes. It claims that steps to
accelerate poverty reduction include creating more
well-paying jobs; improving productivity in all sectors,
including agriculture; reducing income and wealth inequality
through more investments in people and skills development,
enhancing the ability of the poor to participate in growth;
rebuilding conflict-affected areas; and better management of
risks and protection of the vulnerable. |
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