SWS: Filipinos to support pro-labor candidates

MANILA, Philippines — Nine out of 10 Filipinos would support candidates who will advocate job creation in the coming May elections, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey commissioned by the Stratbase Group.

Conducted from Feb. 15 to 19, several days after the official start of the national campaign period, the survey showed that 89 percent of Filipinos would vote for a candidate who [would] push for “increasing job opportunities.”

The recent survey results also showed that 88 percent of Filipinos would support a candidate who would push for workers’ rights and overseas Filipino workers’ welfare.

READ: Voters will go for champions of agri, food security – SWS

The survey had 1,800 respondents nationwide and a 2-percent margin of error.

According to Stratbase president Dindo Manhit, job creation is still an important concern among Filipinos.

Results from a December 2024 SWS survey showed that 35 percent of Filipinos in the labor force, or those aged 18 years old and above, consider themselves jobless.

This figure is significantly higher than the 13.7-percent combined unemployment and underemployment rate for those aged 15 years old and above, as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority the same month. —Inquirer Research