Unemployment falls amid record economic growth

THE number of jobless Filipinos slightly fell last year amid the Philippines’ record economic expansion.

Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that about 2.9 million Filipinos were unemployed last year, representing a jobless rate of 7.3 percent.

In 2009, the number of jobless Filipinos were 2.83 million, or an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent.

The economy grew 7.3 percent last year, its fastest in more than three decades.

The NSO said the unemployed persons who have attained high school accounted for 45.2 percent of all unemployed.

The proportion of unemployed males at 63.3 percent was greater than that of their female counterparts at 36.7 percent.

The labor force population or those who were either employed or unemployed reached 38.9 million resulting in an annual labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64.1 percent.

Among the country’s regions, Northern Mindanao had the highest annual LFPR of 69.8 percent.

The NSO said the annual employment rate or the percentage of the labor force who were employed in 2010 stood at 92.7 percent, slightly higher than the 92.5 percent in 2009.

This rate was calculated using the average estimates of employed persons and persons in the labor force from the four rounds of the quarterly Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted last year.

Of the estimated 36 million employed persons last year, 51.8 percent was engaged in services and 33.2 percent in agriculture.

The NSO said most of those who worked in the services sector were into wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods.

Of the total employed persons, the laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest group at 32.3 percent.

This was followed by farmers, forestry workers and fishermen at 16 percent; officials of government and special interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors and supervisors,13.8 percent; and service workers, shop and market sales workers, 10.6 percent.

The NSO said 54.4 percent of the employed were wage and salary workers, most of whom were in private establishments. Another 32 percent were self-employed without any paid employee, four percent were employers in own family operated business or farms, while nearly 12 percent worked without pay in own family operated farms or businesses.

Among the regions, Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao posted employment rates of more than 96 percent.

The National Capital Region registered the lowest employment rate of 88.5 percent. –DARWIN G. AMOJELAR SENIOR REPORTER, Manila Times

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