Poverty Incidence

Based on the 2009 official poverty statistics for the basic sectors, self-employed and unpaid family workers posted the highest poverty incidence in CAR at 31.1%, the same level in 2006. Children followed with a poverty incidence of 30.4% in 2009, the same level in 2006 while farmers followed closely with a poverty incidence of 30.0% in 2009 from 32.8% in 2006. Poverty incidences for self-employed and unpaid family workers, children and farmers are higher than the poverty incidence among the population in CAR of 22.9%.

Poverty incidence increased for two basic sectors between 2006 and 2009: individuals residing in urban areas and migrant & formal sector workers. See Table 1 below.

Magnitude of Poor Population

Among the basic sectors, children, women, and self-employed & unpaid family workers accounted for the largest number of poor population in the Cordilleras at 183.4 thousand in 2009 from 186.4 thousand in 2006, 171.0 thousand in 2009 from 167.4 thousand in 2006, 110.4 thousand in 2009 from 120.5 thousand in 2006. In 2009, senior citizens had the smallest number of poor population at 15,505, followed by individuals residing in urban areas at 22,688 and migrant & formal sector workers at 26,584.

Magnitude of poverty increased for three basic sectors between 2006 and 2009: migrant & formal sector workers, individuals residing in urban areas and women. See Table 2 below.

Notes:

1. Basic sectors are not mutually exclusive, i.e. there are overlaps for sectors (woman may also be counted as senior citizens, farmers, etc.).
2. Poverty estimates for the five other sectors were not generated as information on these were not available in the merged Family Income and Expenditure Survey and Labor Force Survey, the major data sources for the estimation of poverty statistics for the basic sectors.
3. Self-employed and unpaid family workers refer to employed individuals 15 years old and over who are either self-employed or worked without pay on family owned farm or business. Self-employed and Unpaid Family Workers serves as a proxy indicator for informal sector workers, considering the data currently available in the Philippine Statistical System.
4. Poverty incidence among self-employed and unpaid family workers refers to the proportion of self-employed and unpaid family workers with per capita income less than the per capita poverty threshold to the total number of self-employed and unpaid family workers.
5. Based on the 2009 Official Poverty Statistics of the National Statistical Coordination Board.