PHL unemployment rate, excluding Leyte, down to 7% in April, says PSA

Published June 10, 2014 3:05pm

(Updated 5:11 p.m.) Unemployment rate in the Philippines dropped to 7 percent in April from 7.6 percent a year earlier, according to results of the latest Labor Force Survey released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Tuesday.

In a separate statement, Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan noted, however, the results of the April 2014 LFS did not include Leyte province as it was immensely devastated by Typhoon Yolanda that no survey could be accurately conducted in the area.

"Among the regions, the National Capital Region, Ilocos Region, Central Luzon and CALABARZON (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) had unemployment rates higher than the national figure which were estimated at 10.4 percent, 9.2 percent, 8.6 percent and 9.0 percent respectively," the PSA said.

Bank of the Philippine Islands economist Nicholas Mapa told GMA News online the unemployment data is "not clear altogether and is obscured" by the exclusion of Leyte. "But data is still good as underemployment went down and participation rate increased," he said.

'Missing links'

More males were unemployed, comprising 61.7 percent of the total number of employed Filipinos, the survey showed.

To bring down the unemployment rate, the government "must balance out the economy," Mapa said.

Services account for about 70 percent of the economy, agriculture for 10 percent and manufacturing for 20 percent, he said.

"Manufacturing and agriculture are the missing links to bringing down the unemployment rate as these create supply chain to other sectors," Mapa added.

Underemployed workers who work under 40 hours a week were estimated at 61 percent, compared with 53.7 percent a year earlier, while those who worked for over 40 hours made up 36.4 percent of the underemployed workers.

Total underemployment rate in April 2014 was estimated at 18.2 percent from 19.2 percent in the same comparable period.

With the decline in the unemployment rate, the employment rate rose to an estimated 93 percent from 92.4 percent.

The number of jobs in all major sectors of the economy brought total employment to 38.7 million Filipinos, up 4.5 percent or 1.7 million more from 37 million, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).

Services sector

“The agriculture, industry, and services sectors all posted employment gains," said Balisacan, who is also NEDA director-general.

"This broad-based growth provides a good indicator of the quality of the country’s economic performance in the second quarter of 2014.

"This also backs the government’s target of 6.5 to 7.5 percent gross domestic product growth for the full year,” Balisacan added.

The services sector continued to employ the largest number of the labor force, growing 4.8 percent equivalent to 929,000 workers.

Given these figures, Balisacan said government must continue to strengthen the platforms specified in the updated Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, particularly those that sustain the strategies that encourage investments and improve productivity as well as per capita income.

“To ensure that the labor and employment situation will continue to improve for the rest of the year, the timely implementation of programs is crucial. These include strategies to further improve business climate, mitigate or cope with risks, like El Niño, and facilitate linkages across sectors and regions,” he said. – Janelle Cosino and Danessa O. Rivera/VS, GMA News

Tags: unemployment, unemploymentrate, laborforce, philippinestatisticsauthority, psareport