SWS: Jobless Pinoys drop to 7.9 million in Q4 2019

Adult joblessness dropped by four percentage points to 17.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said on Tuesday.

In its Fourth Quarter 2019 Social Weather Survey, the SWS noted that the estimated number of jobless adults fell to 7.9 million in December from 10 million in September.

The SWS defined “jobless adults” as those who left their old jobs, are seeking jobs for the first time, or lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control.

Out of the 7.9 million jobless adults in December 2019, 3.7 million voluntarily quit their jobs, 1.6 million are first-time job seekers, and some 2.7 million were retrenched because they were laid off, their contracts were not renewed, or their previous employers closed operations.

The SWS also found an eight-percentage point drop in urban joblessness to 15.3 percent, the lowest recorded in 15 years, compared to the 19.6 percent rural joblessness rate.

The survey was conducted from December 13 to 16, 2019 using interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide.  The survey was not commissioned.

Joblessness by area

The SWS said the decline in the national adult joblessness rate was driven by the 10-percentage point decrease in Metro Manila and the eight percentage point drop in Balance Luzon.

Adult joblessness fell to 15 percent in December from 24.5 percent in September in Metro Manila, and from 25 percent in September to 17.3 percent in December in Balance Luzon.

Meanwhile, the adult joblessness rate in Visayas rose to 15.7 percent in December from 11.8 percent in September, and in Mindanao to 20.7 percent in December from 19.9 percent in September.

Job optimism

The SWS also recorded an “excellent” job optimism score of +40.

The survey found that 53 percent of adults were optimistic about their job prospects in the next 12 months, 12 percent were pessimistic, 24 percent said they expect no change in the number of jobs that will become available to them, while 11 percent simply said they “don’t know.”

The SWS noted that job optimism has been classified as “excellent” since June 2019. —LDF, GMA News