It is high growth that is sustained...
Inclusive growth means, first of all, growth that is rapid enough to matter, given the country's large population, geographical differences, and social complexity. It is sustained growth that creates jobs, draws the majority into the economic and social mainstream, and continuously reduces mass poverty. This is an ideal which the country has perennially fallen short of, and this failure has had the most far-reaching consequences, from mass misery and marginalization, to an overseas exodus of skill and talent, to political disaffection and alienation, leading finally to threats to the constitution of the state itself.
Table 1.1 Annual Average Growth Rate of Real Per Capita GDP: 1950-2009 (in percent)
| 1951-60 | 1961-70 | 1971-80 | 1981-90 | 1991-00 | 2001-09 |
Hong Kong | 9.2 | 7.1 | 6.8 | 5.4 | 3.0 | 3.2 |
Singapore | 5.4 | 7.4 | 7.1 | 5.0 | 4.7 | 2.0 |
Korea | 5.1 | 5.8 | 5.4 | 7.7 | 5.2 | 3.5 |
Taipei, China | 7.6 | 9.6 | 9.3 | 8.2 | 5.5 | 2.7 |
Malaysia | 3.6 | 3.4 | 5.3 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 2.2 |
Thailand | 5.7 | 4.8 | 4.3 | 6.3 | 2.4 | 3.1 |
Indonesia | 4.0 | 2.0 | 5.3 | 4.3 | 2.9 | 3.8 |
Philippines | 3.3 | 1.8 | 3.1 | -0.6 | 0.9 | 2.3 |
Sources: Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2010; National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)
*Average for the period 2001-2010
Figure 1.1 Unemployment and under employment rate: 1990 - 2010 (in percent)
Note: Starting April 2005, the Labor Force Survey (LFS) adopts the new definition of unemployment.
Source: National Statistics Office (NSO)
Historically the Philippine economy has been mired in tepid and erratic growth. Since 1981, growth has averaged only 3 percent annually. This is well below the postwar growth rates of several high-performing Asian economies (Table 1.1).
With population still increasing at more than 2 percent per year, per-capita incomes have risen only 20 percent in real terms from 1981 to 2009. Over the same period, by comparison, per capita income increased four-fold in Malaysia, five-fold in Thailand, and 11-fold in PR China, an era in which absolute mass poverty was basically eradicated in these countries.