PHL jobless rate, excluding Leyte, down to 6% in Oct. – PSA

Published December 10, 2014 11:54am

(Updated 5:37 p.m.) The number of jobless Filipinos who belong to the labor force fell in October from a year earlier while those working additional hours or holding more than one job went up, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported Wednesday.

The latest labor force survey (LFS) showed 6 percent jobless rate in October 2014 from 6.4 percent a year earlier.

The unemployment numbers dropped to its lowest in 10 years, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Bank of the Philippine Islands lead economist Emilio Neri Jr. said the latest jobs data is counter-intuitive with the slower economic growth in the third quarter.

"The quality of growth can actually improve even if headline growth was slower," he said.

The Philippine economy was the fourth fastest growing economy in the third quarter, when it grew at a slower 5.3 percent.

The latest unemployment rate translates to 2.4792 million jobless Filipinos.

However, PSA noted the October 2014 LFS did not cover the province of Leyte, which was devastated by Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest to make landfall, in November 2013.

"It is worth noting that workers with higher educational attainment registered higher unemployment rates compared to workers with lower grade completion," Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

"This further supports the view that the lower income group (or those with lower educational attainment) can not afford to be unemployed while the more educated can prolong the time spent looking for work," he said.

PSA estimates showed there were 64.263 million Filipinos 15 years and over in October 2014, of which 41.32 million were counted as part of the labor force.

"The consistently high LFPR for the past three quarters sends a strong signal that more Filipinos are encouraged to join the labor force. This could largely be attributed to the momentum created by the strong economic growth performance over the past four years," said Balisacan, who is also NEDA director general.

Underemployment

The total underemployment rate was estimated at 18.7 percent in October 2014.

The underemployed or those who work less than 40 hours a week were estimated at 57 percent, compared with 62.4 percent a year earlier, while those who worked for over 40 hours made up 41.6 percent of the underemployed workers.

With the decline in the unemployment rate, the employment rate rose to an estimated 94 percent from 93.6 percent, according to the PSA.

“The improved employment numbers also translated to better quality jobs as around 1.03 million of the total employment generated in October 2014 were considered full time. Consistent with this is the increase in remunerative wage and salary workers, particularly in private establishments,” Balisacan said.

The Cabinet secretary also noted that challenges to uplifting the quality of employment across-the- board remain.

"Hence, the government needs to sustain the implementation of multidimensional approach to raise investments, particularly in the rural areas, and improve productivity as well as income per capita in the country," he said.

"It is also important to encourage income diversification and labor mobility in and out of agriculture,” Balisacan added. – Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News

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