One in four Pinoys unemployed – NSO

THE number of jobless Filipinos rose slightly in July because of slow economic growth and the Aquino administration’s failure to provide more employment opportunities.

Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that unemployment inched up to 7.1 percent in July to 2.82 million, higher than the 7 percent or 2.71 million unemployed in July last year. The underemployment rate, or people holding down part-time jobs, stood at 19.1 percent, down from 19.4 percent in April but still much higher than the 17.9 percent underemployment rate in the same period last year.

This means more than one in four working-age Filipinos are either unemployed or looking for more work.

The high unemployment and underemployment rates came after economic growth slowed to a disappointing 3.4 percent in the three months to June.

Government officials blamed the economic slowdown largely on overseas developments such as high oil prices, the March disasters in Japan, the poorly performing US and European economies, and unrest in the Arab world.

The NSO said 53.1 percent of the unemployed were in the 15 to 24 age group and majority of them, or 62.6 percent, were males. It added that 33.6 percent of the unemployed were high school graduates, 21.8 percent were college undergraduates and 20.8 percent were college graduates.

The country’s labor force as of July stood at 39.9 million.

The NSO said about 870,000 jobs were created as of July, while the total employment rate stood at 36.2 million or employment rate of 92.9 percent. A year ago, employment rate was 93 percent.

Of the estimated 37.1 million employed people in July, those in the services sector comprised the largest proportion, accounting to 52.2 percent of the total employed population.

About 32.6 percent were in the agriculture sector and 15.2 percent were in the industry sector.

Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the 124,000 jobs in the construction sector were mostly created by the private sector.

“Fiscal numbers show that public projects have yet to take off as of July 2011,” Diokno said.

He added that policymakers would be faced with a difficult task of creating jobs in the months ahead.

Diokno said the number of workers would increase partly because of rising population and limited employment opportunities abroad. On the other hand, he added that the number of jobs wanted by firms and farm owners would slow owing to the growing uncertainty arising from a harsher, slower, and more uncertain global economy. –DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times