Jobless Pinoys up to 1.97M in October —PSA

The number of unemployed Filipinos marginally increased in October this year as labor force participation was affected by the consecutive storms that hit the country during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.

At a press conference, PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said jobless individuals, ages 15 and above, stood at 1.97 million in October.

This was higher than the 1.89 million unemployed persons recorded in September but lower compared to October 2023’s 2.09 million jobless individuals.

As a percentage of 50.12 million Filipinos in the labor force, the number of jobless persons translated to an unemployment rate of 3.9%, up from 3.7% in September.

Likewise, labor force participation or the number of people who were either employed or unemployed but are actively looking for an occupation saw a decline from 51.77 million in September.

Year-on-year, however, labor force participation saw an increase from 49.88 million in October 2023.

Meanwhile, the number of employed went down to 48.16 million from 49.87 million in the prior month. 

Compared to the same month last year, the number of those with jobs increased from 47.79 million.

“Talagang nagkaroon ng pagbaba sa labor participation at doon sa [bilang ng] employed dahil sa weather disturbances… pumasok sa tatlong linggo ng Oktubre so nagkaroon siya ng impact sa decision ng ating mga kababayan na mag-participate sa labor market,” Mapa said.

(We saw a decline in labor force participation and the number of employed because of weather disturbances… which entered the country in at least three weeks of October so it had an impact on the decision of our fellow Filipinos to participate in the labor market.)

“But if you look at the year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter may pagtaas pa rin kaya sa datos na nakikita namin this is temporary because of the weather disturbances (there were increase, thus, we view this as temporary resulting from the weather disturbances),” the PSA chief said.

By broad industry group, the services sector continued to be the top sector in terms of the number of employed persons with a share of 61% of the total employed persons in October 2024.

The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 21.2% and 17.9% of the total number of employed persons, respectively.

The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons in October 2024 were the following:

• Administrative and support service activities - 247,000 
• Accommodation and food service activities - 215,000
• Transportation and storage - 202,000
• Construction - 121,000
• Mining and quarrying - 101,000

In contrast, the five sub-sectors with the highest annual decreases in the number of employed persons are as follows:

• Fishing and aquaculture - 213,000
• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles - 212,000
• Agriculture and forestry - 183,000
• Manufacturing - 123,000
• Other service activities - 23,000

In light of recent calamities across various regions, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government will prioritize developing a governance framework for public-private partnerships to finance climate-resilient infrastructure and provide emergency employment assistance and other support for displaced workers.

Balisacan said that the Department of Labor and Employment will also continue granting cash-for-work wages under the Tulong Panghanapbuhay Para sa Ating Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program.

Underemployment

The underemployment rate in October, meanwhile, increased to 12.6% from 11.7 percent in October 2023.

In terms of magnitude, 6.08 million of the 48.16 million employed individuals expressed the 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 in October this year.

“This increase translates to 486,000 additional underemployed individuals seeking more working hours, primarily from the wholesale and retail trade, agriculture, and forestry sectors,” Balisacan said.

“Despite this, full-year figures show a slight decline in underemployment to 13.3% in 2024 from 13.6% in 2023,” he said.

Wage and salary

The PSA chief reported that wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 63.8% of the total number of employed persons in October.

This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.7% and unpaid family workers at 5.9%.

Employers in their own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 2.6%.

Among wage and salary workers, those employed in private establishments remained to have the highest share at 78.2% of the wage and salary workers or 49.9% of the total number of employed persons.

This was followed by those employed in government or government-controlled corporations with a share of 14.6% of the wage and salary workers or 9.3% of the total number of employed persons during the period.

“The Marcos Administration is working tirelessly to fast-track the critical infrastructure projects in key sectors such as connectivity, telecommunications, energy, and water to generate more income opportunities. Additionally, we are prioritizing the upskilling and reskilling of our workforce to equip Filipino workers with the knowledge and capabilities needed in today’s dynamic job market,” Balisacan said.

--VAL, GMA Integrated News