Phl jobless rate drops

The number of jobless Filipinos dropped to 2.5 million in September from 2.68 million estimated last August, results of the Philippine Statistics Authority's September Labor Force Survey show.
The latest data translated to a drop of 5 percent last month from 5.3 percent two months ago.

With the vibrant resumption of economic activities, PSA said the employment rate increased to 95 percent, or 47.58 million people, in September 2022. Last month's employment rate increased marginally from August's 94.7 percent or 47.87 million people.

The PSA said manufacturing (1.09 million), wholesale and retail trade (852 thousand), agriculture and forestry (599 thousand), lodging and food services (482 thousand), and transportation and storage (470 thousand) saw the biggest gains in employment.

"The unemployment rates in the last three survey rounds (5.2 percent in July, 5.3 percent in August, and 5 percent in September) brings us closer to the pre-pandemic levels," PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said in a press briefing.

Number of labor force down, unemployment up

Despite the decline in joblessness, PSA said there are 50.08 million working-age Filipinos who were either employed or unemployed out of the 76.83 million people aged 15 years and over.

Specifically, the number of people in the labor force fell from 50.55 million in August to 50.08 million in September, a decrease of 470,000.

The average jobless rate from January through September of this year also stood at 5.8 percent.

Mapa, citing the September Labor Force Survey, said underemployment is on an uptrend.

Underemployment increased to 15.4 percent in September, which equates to 7.33 million people looking for more hours or jobs. Last month's data is higher than the 7.03 million underemployed employees or 14.7 percent underemployment rate in August 2022.

"The labor force participation declined by close to 500,000 as the portion of the workforce decided to go back to school since September or the opening of classes," Mapa said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Still at par with ASEAN countries

Meanwhile, National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the jobless level was still largely at par with major Asian economies and is even lower compared to that of India, Indonesia and China.

"The recent survey results show the gains of the full reopening of our economy," Balisacan said in a statement.

"The government will leverage this momentum by strengthening policy interventions and investing in innovation and technology systems geared toward generating higher-quality employment that provides adequate income for Filipino workers and their families," he added.

Quality of employment pushed

The government remains committed to improving the quality of employment to address the high underemployment in the country, a Cabinet official said on Tuesday.

"The recent survey results show the gains of the full reopening of our economy. The government will leverage on this momentum by strengthening policy interventions and investing in innovation and technology systems geared toward generating higher-quality employment that provides adequate income for Filipino workers and their families," Balisacan said.

The underemployment rate worsened to 15.4 percent from 14.2 percent in September 2021, as more than 882,000 individuals sought to earn additional income with the spike in commodity prices due to inflation.

"Ensuring food security remains our top priority. In the immediate term, the government is providing targeted cash transfer as well as fuel and crop subsidies to help protect the purchasing power of Filipinos and reduce the incidence of invisible underemployment among low-income households," he added.

He also highlighted the need for effective implementation of emergency employment programs and other forms of assistance to immediately assist those who were hard-hit by the calamities.

"As we are expecting La Niña and near to above-normal rainfall conditions in the coming months, we need to boost our disaster resilience and climate adaptation measures," he added.