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PHL jobless rate rises to 6.8% in Oct. — NSO
By SIEGFRID O. ALEGADO, GMA News
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(Updated 3:50 p.m.) The jobless rate in the Philippines rose to 6.8 percent in October from 6.4 percent a year earlier, the National Statistics Office reported Tuesday.
“The proportion of the unemployed persons to the labor force was estimated at 2.8 million, which translated to an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent,” the NSO said.
“The rate was slightly higher than last year’s unemployment rate of 6.4 percent,” it added.
At 11 percent, the jobless rate in the national capital region was the lowest and, at 2.4 percent, Cagayan was the lowest.
“Among the unemployed persons, there were more males (62.1 percent) than females (37.9 percent). Most (48.5 percent) of the unemployed persons belong to age group 15 to 24 years,” according to the NSO.
The NSO Labor Force Survey showed that there were 7.16 million underemployed Filipinos in October, down from July's 8.55 million – a six-year record high – and from 7.38 million in October 2011.
Of the 63.25 million Filipinos aged 15 years and above, an estimated 37.7 million were employed – a 63.9 percent labor force participation rate. 'Our greatest challenge'
In a statement, the NSO said “workers belonging to the services sector comprised the largest proportion with 52.6 percent of the total employed persons” as of end-October.
Agriculture accounted for 32.3 percent of those employed, and the industry sector for 15.2 percent.
In a separate e-mailed statement, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said, “The October 2012 Labor Force Survey is a breakthrough in the country's goal of decent and productive jobs,
“This is the third time that unemployment rate breached the downside of the 7 percent since 2011,” she added.
But at the sidelines of a briefing in Pasig City on Tuesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisican told reporters more needs to be done to sustain “good quality employment” in the country.
“Given the latest labor and employment figures, generating employment and ensuring that these are of good quality remain our greatest challenge,” Balisacan said.
“We will continue our efforts to improve our country’s competitiveness as this will lead to more investments that will create the needed employment in the medium to long term,” he added.
Last September when NSO reported the previous jobless data, it said that the unemployment rate in July 2012 was estimated at 7 percent or almost unchanged 7.1 percent a year earlier.
“The NCR posted the highest unemployment rate at 9.9 percent while Cagayan Valley posted the lowest at 3.2 percent,” the NSO noted in its September report.
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