REYES, JOHN CYMON F.
The Philippines has witnessed quite the massive setback in terms of economic progress during the
strike of the COVID-19 pandemic. With it came a regression in the pacing and advancement of the country
in terms of commerce, industrialization, technology, and even in the continuous competition in the global
scale.
However, as the country slowly progressed through the years, and as the state of the citizens have
become stable and secured from the risks of the virus, the Philippine Economy has been able to get back
on its feet since the economic regression.
Several aspects of the Philippine Economy has been affected by the past crisis. According to the
world bank, levels of extreme has been decreasing since around 2014. Economy in terms of individual
economic status has been making progress. However, since 2019, majority of the population was withheld
in their finances, and several still continue to struggle to get back to their former state of financial
independence.
Job Polarization has also been a factor affected which impacted the economy. Pertaining to the
shift in the requirements of specific levels of jobs in the workforce, a lot the jobs offered now have also
been modified. This creates a disparity in income between people as middle level jobs were declining in
numbers, while high and low level jobs have been increasing.
Education is also a major factor in assessing the economic status of the Philippines. A lot of
institutions have ceased operations due to lack of funds since pandemic. The result of this phenomena
created an increase of students within schools, causing overpopulation and overworking of the faculty.
The state of education, even after the recovery from the pandemic, sadly allowed inequality to the access
and progress in education, only benefitting those with privilege.
While most data from the World Bank and other reliable sources and articles state that the
Philippines had an increase in GDP rates, that sales and trade aspects have been doing well, I beg to differ
as these data only caters to the sales and trade aspects of economy.
The citizens of the Philippines are still undergoing recovery in finance, health, and stability. Taking
into consideration the sociological aspect of economics (citizens/ human resource as key factor in the
development of the country), the country is still in shambles. Even with the increased GDP and other
numerical sales made according to the world bank, a large percentage of the population still has not been
able to cope with the after effects of the pandemic, as well as the effects of inflation and globalization.
REFERENCE:
World Bank (2022). Overcoming Poverty and Inequality in the Philippines: Past, Present, and Prospects for
the
Future.
Retrieved
from:
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/philippines/publication/key-findings-overcomingpoverty-and-inequality-in-ph-past-present-and-prospects-for-the-future