Unemployed Filipinos up to 3.27M in December 2021 —PSA

The number of jobless Filipinos increased in December 2021 despite the less stringent quarantine restrictions during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.

At a virtual press briefing, PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said the number of unemployed adults, or those aged 15 and above, in December last year stood at 3.27 million, reflecting an unemployment rate of 6.6%.

This is higher by about 110,000 compared to the 3.16 million unemployed individuals or an unemployment rate of 6.5% recorded in November 2021.

Despite the increase in jobless adults, Mapa reported that employed individuals increased to 46.27 million, higher by almost 800,000 from 45.48 million recorded in the prior month.

The employment rate in December 2021, however, was registered at 93.4%, slightly lower than the 93.5% employment rate posted in November 2021.

This as the labor force participation rate — the percentage of individuals who are actively looking for work in the adult population — increased to 65.1%, the highest for the year 2021, from 64.2% in the previous comparable month.

In terms of magnitude, the number of labor force participants stood at 49.55 million in December last year, an increase of about 910,000 adult Filipinos who were either employed or unemployed from 48.64 million in November 2021.

The increase in labor force participation was attributed to the easing of mobility restrictions and the rise of seasonal job vacancies in time for the holidays, according to Mapa.

All throughout December, the National Capital Region, the country’s economic center, was under Alert Level 2, wherein establishments are allowed to operate indoors at 50% capacity with additional 10% capacity if they have a safety seal. For outdoors, they will be allowed at 70%.

Explaining the relationship between the higher unemployment, employment, and labor force participation rates, Mapa said that out of the 910,000 increase in labor force participants, 800,000 found jobs while 110,000 were unable to land a job.

“Ang nangyari mas marami ang nag-participate sa labor force at mayroong portion dito na naging unemployed,” Mapa said.

(What happened is that although many participated in the labor force, a portion of it became unemployed.) 

In a statement, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said that despite the increase in unemployment, “around 800,000 more people were able to find work as mobility restrictions were relaxed in December.”

“By accelerating the vaccination program and safely reopening more sectors of the economy, we were able to generate more and better jobs for the people. We look forward to building on these gains in 2022 now that we have contained the spread of Omicron and have reverted back to Alert Level 2 in the National Capital Region and several provinces,” Chua said.

The Socioeconomic Planning chief said expansion of the vaccination program to the pediatric population will help pave the way for the resumption of face-to-face classes and restore employment in the education sector.

“While employment outcomes are expected to slightly deteriorate in January 2022 due to the higher alert levels, this will only be temporary as we vigorously pursue the implementation of the EDC’s 10-point policy. This will set the stage for our full recovery in 2022,” he said.

During most of January 2022, NCR and several other regions were under Alert Level 3 due to the sudden surge of COVID-19 cases following the Christmas holidays.

Under Alert Level 3, several establishments will be allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated.

Face-to-face classes, contact sports, funfairs/perya, and casinos are among the activities and establishments that are prohibited under Alert Level 3.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, likewise, said the results of the December 2021 Labor Force Survey “reflects the efforts of the government towards recovery of the labor market throughout the year.”

“We reiterate the need for our people to be vaccinated and avail boosters, and to strictly adhere to minimum public health standards (MPHS) and occupational safety and health policies. As we gradually treat the ‘pandemic’ as ‘endemic’, let us continue to be vigilant and avoid complacency by always wearing face masks, washing hands, observing physical distancing, and avoiding crowded places,” Bello said.

Sectors

By industry group, the services sector remained as the dominant employment hub absorbing 26.21 million employed persons or 56.6% in December 2021.

Meanwhile, the agriculture and the industry sectors employed 11.83 million or 25.6% and 8.24 million or 17.8%, respectively.

On a month-on-month change, from November 2021 to December 2021, the top five sub-sectors with increase in employed persons were as follows:

• Agriculture and forestry at 1.07 million
• Manufacturing at 325,000
• Human health and social work activities at 165,000
• Transportation and storage at 146,000
• Administrative and support service activities at 127,000

On the other hand, the top five sub-sectors with a drop in  employment from November to December were the following:

• Fishing and aquaculture at -393,000
• Other service activities -289,000
• Education at -217,000
• Public administration and defense, compulsory social security at -80,000
• Information and communication at -78,000

Underemployed

The underemployment rate — the proportion of employed persons wanting additional work — declined 14.7% from 16.7% in November 2021.

This was the fifth lowest underemployment rate for 2021.

Underemployed persons are employed persons who expressed desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.

“Mas maraming industries ang nagkaroon nang pag-increase to full 40 hours [weekly operations],” Mapa said.

(Many industries have increased their weekly operations to a full 40 hours.)

In particular, the average weekly hours worked of an employed person in December 2021 was at 39.7 hours, higher than the 39.6 hours of work per week in November 2021.

Youth employment

Youth labor force participation rate in December 2021 was estimated at 36.7%, lower than the youth labor force participation rate reported in November 2021 at 37.5%.

Nonetheless, youth employment rate in December 2021 was estimated at 87.2%, the highest in 2021.

Youth underemployment rate of 11.3% in December was second lowest reported in 2021.

The lowest was in May 2021 at 10.0 percent. Employed youth worked 37.8 hours per week, on average, in December 2021.  —KBK/RSJ, GMA News