Ranks of underemployed plus jobless Pinoys swell to 10.8M — NSO survey

Published March 17, 2013 2:28am

Some 10.828 million Filipinos of working age—15 years old and over—as of January 2013 are either jobless or want to work more hours so they could earn more.

Their numbers have risen by 918,000 from 9.91 million in January 2012 as more people became underemployed, latest official figures show.

Underemployment, according to the Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO) done last January, increased to 7.934 million from 7.018 million.

The unemployed are fewer at 2.894 million. Combined, the underemployed and jobless comprise nearly 11 percent of the Philippines' population of 99.4 million, which is the estimate of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

The unemployment rate dipped to 7.1 percent from 7.2 percent in January 2012, but gains there were offset by the underemployment rate which rose to 20.9 percent from 18.8 percent.

NSO considers as underemployed, “employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.”

Breakdown

Most of the underemployed and jobless are male (63 percent) and in the 15 to 34 age range. Of the country's 17 regions, Bicol—at 35 percent—has the highest concentration of underemployed workers.

Underemployment is lowest in the industry sector (15.9 percent) and much higher in agriculture (41.8 percent) and services sector (42.3 percent). Some 55.2 percent of the underemployed worked less than 40 hours in a week while 43.3 percent worked 40 hours or more.

Among the unemployed, 30 percent are college graduates or have had some college education while 33.7 percent are high school graduates.

NSO includes unpaid family workers among the employed and they accounted for 9.4 percent of the total 37.94 million employed in January 2013.

“Of the total employed persons in January 2013, 65.1 percent were full time workers, while 33.9 percent were part-time workers. By comparison, in January 2012, full-time workers comprised 62.1 percent while part-time workers made up 36.7 percent,” NSO administrator Carmelita Ericta said in the March 15, 2013 press release on the LFS.

Background

NSO conducts the LFS in the months of January, April, July and October.

The last time underemployment in January was above 20 percent was in 2007 at 21.5 percent, according to LFS data compiled by the NSCB.

The Social Weather Stations, in a survey conducted in December last year, “found adult joblessness at 24.6%, or an estimated 10.1 million.”

Respondents in SWS surveys are at least 18 years old. The NSO count starts at 15 years old.

“Adult joblessness in the SWS surveys has been 20% and above since May 2005, except when it was 19.9% in March 2006, 17.5% in December 2007, and 18.9% in September 2010,” the SWS said.

The pollster also observed that “adult joblessness is customarily dominated by those who voluntarily left their old job, and those who lost their jobs through economic circumstances beyond their control.” — Earl Victor Rosero, GMA News

Tags: jobless, underemployed, unemployed