Number of jobless Pinoys drops by 200,000

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) reported yesterday that the number of jobless Filipinos had declined by 200,000 as the country recovers from the effects of the global financial crisis.

DOLE said data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that unemployed persons nationwide dropped to 2.7 million in July compared to the 2.9 million jobless workers recorded during the same period last year.

Based on results of the NSO’s latest Labor Force Survey (LFS), male workers account for 62.6 percent of the total number of unemployed citizens while a majority or 52.5 percent belong to 15 to 24-years age group.

About one-third (32.5 percent) of the unemployed were high school graduates, 22.7 percent were college undergraduates, and 20.5 percent were college graduates.

Labor officials said the lingering effects of the financial crisis have increased the number of jobless Filipinos last year with Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, and Quezon (CALABARZON) region bearing the brunt.

NSO administrator Carmelita Ericta said the number of underemployed or employed persons that are still looking for additional work to earn more also went down to 17.9 percent from last year’s 19 percent.

“The number of underemployed persons in July 2010 was estimated at 6.5 million, placing the current underemployment rate at 17.9 percent,” Ericta said.

More than half (58.1 percent) of underemployed workers were reported as visibly underemployed or working less than 40 hours during the reference week while those working for 40 hours or more accounted for 40.4 percent.

Most of the underemployed were working in the agriculture sector (46.7 percent) and services sector (37.8 percent).

The underemployed in the industry sector accounted for 15.5 percent.

Results of the July 2010 Labor Force Survey (LFS) also showed an employment rate of 93.1 percent or an estimated total of 36.3 million.

The employment rate in July last year was recorded at 92.4 percent.

Among the regions, Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) posted the highest employment rate at 96 percent.

The National Capital Region (NCR) had the lowest employment rate at 89.1 percent.

Of the estimated 36.3 million employed citizens, the service sector was the largest group comprising more than half (51.2 percent) of the total employed population.

The employed workers in the service sector were in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods (19.4 percent of the total employed).

Workers in the agriculture sector accounted for 33.9 percent of the employed workers, with those engaged in the agriculture, hunting and forestry sub-sector making up the largest sub-sector (29.9 percent of the total employed).

Only 14.9 percent of the total employed were in the industry sector, with the manufacturing sub-sector making up the largest percentage (8.3 percent of the total employed).

Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest group posting 31.8 percent of the total employed population.

Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen were the second largest group, accounting for 16.8 percent of the total employed.

Employed persons include wage and salary workers, own account workers and unpaid family workers. Wage and salary workers are those who work for private households, private establishments, government or government corporations and those who work with pay in family-operated farm or business.

Wage and salary workers in July 2010 accounted for 53.2 percent of the total workforce, which is lower than last year’s figure of 55.3 percent.

Among the salary workers, those working for private establishments comprised the largest proportion (39.6 percent of the total employed).

Government workers or those working for government corporations comprised only 8.4 percent of the total employed, while 5.0 percent were workers in private households.

Employed persons are classified as either full-time or part-time workers.

Full-time workers render 40 hours or more of work during the reference week while part-time workers work for less than 40 hours.

The full-time workers in July 2010 recorded a share of 64.3 percent of the total employed workers while 35 percent were part-time workers. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)