Recent Economic Performance

How has the Philippine economy fared recently? Numerous indicators can be examined together in order to know how active and wealth-producing an economy is. Generally, economic performance is measured in terms of Output, Wages, and Employment. Many look at financial indicators, such as Exchange Rates and Interest Rates. Other indicators break the Output down into categories of goods and services, such as those from the manufacturing or service sectors. Still others look at debt figures; the domestic stock exchange scene; and the names of top corporations located in the country.

Output, Employment and Wages

According to the latest figures (June 2002), the Philippines posted a positive 4.9% growth for the first quarter of 2002, up from a 3.4% during the same period last year. The year-to-year data, however, shows the economy has yet to recover its condition before the Asian financial crisis hit in 1997. Back then, the country was posting an average of  5% annual growth rate.

Inflation

Agriculture

The country relies mainly on aquaculture and agriculture, although lands are rapidly giving way to commercial and residential uses. Agricultural production in 2000 had not picked up from its registered output in 1996; in fact production fell drastically in since 1997 and began to recover only in 2000.

A big factor for this is the frequent destruction of crops from the more than 20 typhoons that visit the country every year.

Another problem is the competition among countries that produce agricultural products: high tariff rates and government subsidies for their own agricultural sector are heavily affecting exporting countries like the Philippines. [See Related Article on "GMA Scores Trade Protectionism"]

Philippine agricultural crops can be divided between the cereal types (palay and corn) and other major crops (coconut, sugarcane, banana, pineapple, coffee, mango, tobacco, abaca, rubber, cacao, cassava, camote, peanut, mongo, onion, garlic, tomato, eggplant, cabbage, citrus and others).

Foreign Trade

The Philippines trades mainly with Asian countries. In 2000, the trade was heavily directed toward Asian countries, including the ASEAN, East Asia, South East, and the Middle East. North America followed, then Europe, Oceania, and Africa.

Jobs in Urban and Rural Areas

In urban areas, the most common occupations are in community, social and personal services, while in the rural areas, men and women are engaged in agriculture, fishery and forestry. In 2000, according to the National Statistics Office, male urban workers mostly worked in production and transportation, while female urban workers were commonly found in sales jobs.

Household Income

In the past housewives undertook wage-earning jobs mainly to augment family incomes. Recent years, however, have shown a surge in the number of female-headed households, not just in the Philippines, but also in many parts of the globe. In the Philippines, the average average household income for 1997 of households headed by women was higher than the average income of male-headed households.

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