Not enough jobs for skilled workers in RP

THE PHILIPPINES is creating more jobs but too many skilled people are still unable to find work, economic planning chief Cayetano Paderanga said yesterday.

Unemployment eased to 6.9% in July as an improving economy opened up more jobs, mostly in the farm sector, the government reported a day earlier.

“While the Philippine economy has shown relative improvements in the labor sector in July 2010, the quality of employment remains a concern,” Mr. Paderanga said in a statement.

Employment in the farm sector grew 3.1% in July, accounting for a third of all those employed even though it contributes less than a fifth of the country’s economic output.

About a million Filipinos leave the country every year to work abroad, government data showed.

Mr. Paderanga said the government should pursue policies that would boost investment, improve productiveness of workers and raise per capita income in a country where one in three people are considered poor.

“This in turn will spur the productive sectors of the economy and encourage the generation of more stable-paying employment opportunities,” he said.

He added that the government should put in place policies to reduce number of people who are educated but unemployed.

Filipinos without jobs numbered 2.7 million out of the 39 million-strong domestic labor force in July, results of a quarterly survey by the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed.

The ranks of underemployed, meanwhile, shrank to an estimated 6.5 million from last year’s seven million, putting the underemployment rate at a lower 17.9% in July from 19.8% a year ago.

The July labor report showed laborers and unskilled workers accounting for 31.8% of the total employed population. More than half, or 51.2%, were with the service sector, the NSO said. — AFP