Jobless rate down to 19.7% in Q1 of 2019 — SWS

(Philstar.com), May 8, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — An estimated 9.4 million Filipino adults or 19.7% of the labor force are unemployed for the first quarter of 2019, according to the Social Weather Stations survey released Tuesday night.

This rating is down by 1.4 points from the 21.1% in December 2018 and the 22% recorded in September 2018.

Despite the lower percentage of unemployed Filipinos, the 9.4 million figure is larger compared to the 9 million recorded in December last year as the labor force grew to an estimated 71.4% (47.6 million adults).

The survey conducted from March 28 to 31 showed that those who were jobless in the first quarter included the 9.4% (4.5 million adults) who voluntarily left their jobs, the 7.6% (3.6 million adults) retrenched and 2.7% (1.3 million adults) first-time job seekers.

Among those who were retrenched, 5.6% (2.7 million adults) had their contracts ended and were no longer renewed, 1.4% (680,000 adults) got laid off and 0.5% (261,000 adults) had their previous employer close operations.

In Balance Luzon, adult joblessness increased from 19% (3.4 million adults) in December to 21% in March. The Visayas also observed a two-point increase in joblessness from 16% (3.4 million adults) in December to 18% in March.

Meanwhile, in Metro Manila, joblessness fell from 27% (1.7 million adults) in December to 21% in March. Mindanao also registered a decrease in adult joblessness from 26% to 17% in the same time period.

The SWS survey also found that optimism on job availability in the next 12 months went down from 52% in December to 50% in March.

“The resulting net optimism on job availability (% more jobs minus % fewer jobs) is a Very High +37 in March 2019. It soared from High +24 in September 2018 to Excellent +40 in December 2018 before dipping to Very High +37 in March 2019,” the poll firm said.

Malacañang welcomed the latest survey, pointing out how President Rodrigo Duterte considers labor as “one of the engines that will propel further the country’s growth and development.”

“We remain committed in creating jobs by attracting more foreign investments and promoting good governance as we look forward to welcoming more Filipinos in the workforce,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

The latest survey was conducted among 1,440 adults nationwide using face-to-face interviews with sampling error margins of ±2.6% for national percentages, and ±5% each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

“The quarterly Social Weather Surveys on joblessness are not commissioned, but are done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service,” SWS said. — Patricia Lourdes Viray