Nearly three million Pinoys or 7.5% of labor force unemployed in January, says NSO

(Updated 8:15 p.m.) The number of jobless Filipinos who are part of the labor force increased in January from a year earlier while those working additional hours or holding more than one job went down, the National Statistics Office (NSO) reported Tuesday.

 

The latest labor force survey (LFS) showed the jobless rate at 7.5 percent in January 2013 from 7.1 percent reported a year earlier and from 6.5 percent in October 2013 – the latest survey before January 2013.

 

The 7.5 percent translates to 2.969 million jobless Filipinos, compared with 2.776 million year-on-year.

 

However, NSO said the January 2014 LFS did not cover all provinces of Region VIII, particularly most areas that were devastated by Typhoon Yolanda which were not able to comply with the master sample design being used for the survey.

 

The latest unemployment rate translates to 2.969 million jobless Filipinos, compared with 2.776 million recorded in January 2013.

"We saw a slowdown in the economy in the fourth quarter," Bank of the Philippine Islands lead economist Emilio Neri Jr. told GMA News by phone.

Neri said some sectors, particularly those construction-related, grew at a slower phase towards the latter part of the year on decline in government spending and the natural calamities that hit the country.

Central Philippines on Oct. 15 was struck by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake that was 32 times stronger than that the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War 2.

On Nov. 8, Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest to hit land on record, curbed growth in the fourth quarter last year to 6.5 percent, the Philippine Statisctics Authority said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan had earlier said the strong growth was still not enough to put a dent on poverty butthe government "continues to implement reforms to attract more investments and create jobs."

 

Filipinos 15 years and over were estimated by the NSO at 61.775 million in January 2014, of which 36.42 million were counted as part of the labor force.

 

This compares with 63.3 million – the number of Filipinos 15 years and over as of end-October 2013 – of which 40.4 million were part of the labor force.

 

The survey results also showed that there were 36.42 million employed persons in January 2014, translating to an employment rate of 92.5 percent.

 

The underemployed or those who want to have additional working hours in their present job – or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours – totaled 7.101 million, placing the underemployment rate at 19.5 percent in January 2014.

 

The underemployment rate was 20.9 percent a year earlier and at 17.9 percent last October.

 

The services sector accounted for 54.1 percent of the employed Filipinos, with agriculture employing 30 percent of the work force and industry providing jobs for 15.9 percent.

 

Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma Jr., quoting the National Economic Development Authority, said the people without jobs increased in numbers because the labor force grew by 1.2 percent during the period while the jobs that were generated increased by only 0.8 percent year-on-year. 

 

He said unemployment also grew because of the recent natural disasters that hit the Philippines. As such, Coloma noted, they will promote employment opportunities in places of refuge. 

 

"We will take note that those dislocated were part of a migration wave from places of calamity to places of refuge, or to the towns and provinces adjacent to the disaster areas," he said.

 

Aside from this, he said they will assist job -seekers in "reconstructing" pre-employment records. 

 

"Sa dami po ng nasalanta, nahihirapan din silang mag-produce ng mga normal na hinihingi ng mga employer na dokumento – mga transcript of records, ‘yung mga birth certificate, and so on," he said.

The services sector accounted for 54.1 percent of employed Filipinos, with agriculture employing 30 percent of the work force and industry providing jobs for 15.9 percent.

The government should work on driving the competitiveness of the agriculture and manufacturing sectors in the mid-term, BPI's Neri said.

But in order to do that, government must improve the country's infrastructure.

"Not just roads, but also seaports. We're lagging significantly in infrastructure. We've seen little improvement and it's quite ironic because it's happening at a time when we have resources to build," Neri said. — VS/BM, GMA News