Number of jobless Pinoys rises to 10.9M in 1st quarter of 2018 —SWS

The joblessness rate has increased to 23.9 percent in the first quarter of 2018 from 15.7 percent in December 2017, findings of the Social Weather Stations First Quarter Survey showed.

According to SWS, the findings indicate that the estimated number of jobless adults in the country rose from 7.2 million in December 2017 to 10.9 million March 2018.

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The latest joblessness rate includes those who voluntarily left their old jobs at 12.6 percent (an estimated 5.8 million adults); those who involuntarily lost their jobs at 7.7 percent (estimate at 3.5 million adults); and first-time job seekers at 3.5 percent (estimated at million adults).

The survey was conducted from March 23-27, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao).

First among the questions asked was, "Do you have a job at present, not have a job at present but used to have a job, or never had a job?"

According to SWS, the adult labor participation rate was at 71.4 percent or an estimate of 45.8 million adults. It showed a 0.7 percent decrease from the 72.1 percent (estimate of 45.5 million adults) in the previous survey.

Job availability

The survey also revealed that optimism on whether there will be more jobs decreased by four points from 53 percent in December of last year to 49 percent in this latest survey.

On the other hand, pessimism that there will be fewer jobs was still at 12 percent while those who believed that there will be no change in job availability increase from 24 percent to 25 percent.

This downgrades the net optimism on job availability score by four points from an "excellent" +41 in December 2017 to a "very high" +37 in March 2018.

Areas, age group

The SWS said joblessness has increased in all areas except the National Capital Region (NCR).

It decreased by 0.5 points in NCR from 19.5 percent in December 2017 to a record low 19.0 percent in March 2018.

In Balance Luzon, adult joblessness rose by 12.1 points from 16.0 percent in December 2017 to 28.1 percent in March 2018 while in Visayas, it also increased by 6.3 points from 15.3 percent in December 2017 to 21.6 percent in the latest survey.

The rate in Mindanao went up by 7.6 points from 13.2 percent in December 2017 to 20.8 percent in March 2018, the SWS said.

When it comes to urban and rural areas, an increase of 5.6 points was noted in urban areas, resulting in a 22.8 percent in March 2018 from 17.2 percent during the previous survey.

In rural areas, it was also an increase from 4.6 percent in December 2017 to 24.8 percent in March 2018.

The SWS also said joblessness rate increased among all age groups.

It rose by 8.1 points among 18 to 24-year-olds, from 45.0 percent in December 2017 to 53.1 percent in March 2018.

It also went up by 6.7 points among 35 to 44-year-olds, from 10.7 percent in December 2017 to 17.4 percent in March 2018.

An increase was also pointed out among those 45-years-old and above, from 8.5 percent to 17.4 percent.

Men, women

Adult joblessness among men rose by 8.5 points from 7.6 percent in December 2017 to 16.1 percent in March 2018 while in men, an increase of 7.2 points from 26.7 percent in December 2017 to 33.9 percent in March 2018 was also showed.

Adult joblessness consists of (a) those who voluntarily left their old jobs, (b) those who lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control, termed as the retrenched, and (c) those seeking jobs for the first time.

The survey was conducted from March 23-27, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide: 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao (sampling error margins of ±3% for national percentages, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao). —NB, GMA News