Despite the country's economic improvement, the number of poor people did not decrease, as only those with higher incomes benefited from the gains, a study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) revealed.

Based on a PIDS discussion paper titled “Poverty Transitions and the Near-Poor in the Philippines”, Senior Research Fellow Jose Ramon G. Albert said that the benefits of growth were not evenly distributed among the poor.

“The predominant gains were seen by those in higher income brackets, due to high income inequality, which limited the impact of economic growth on poverty reduction,” he said.

While some poor households still managed to get out of poverty, some fell into it due to financial insecurity because “poverty and vulnerability are linked to a household's income potential.”

“The unpredictability of their (the poor) income due to external shocks, and their capacity to handle the effects of such shocks,” Albert noted.

The country’s growth elasticity of poverty, or the reduction in poverty rates associated with a change in income, declined from 0.62 percent in 2006 to 0.15 in 2009, according to the calculations from the researcher.

“This low GEP [growth elasticity of poverty] from 2006 to 2009 suggests that the economic growth experienced in the Philippines during this period did not significantly alleviate poverty,” he stated.

Around 2006, about a fifth of households, were poor, and about 1.3 million households, managed to escape poverty in 2009.

However, the overall poverty rate remained “unchanged since 1.2 million households that were non-poor in 2006 fell into poverty by 2009,” said Albert.

Most of these people, the research suggested, are susceptible to factors that will push them into poverty such as the rising prices of goods, loss of jobs of members of households, and when major income earners fall into illness or death.

It is worth noting that half the population of people who are likely to become poor are engaged in vulnerable employment, such examples are those who work as contributing family workers even the unpaid ones, as cited from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey.

Natural phenomenon is also a factor in poverty increase as provinces that experienced stronger typhoons are most likely to have large numbers of poor households, Albert said.

The PIDS study noted that there is a need for inclusive growth policies that focus on expanding rural economic opportunities, boosting agricultural productivity, investing in education and infrastructure, and creating decent jobs.

“Sustainable solutions must promote inclusive growth and resilience alongside protection of the vulnerable,” Albert emphasized.