The number of jobless Filipinos dropped by 600,000 in the first quarter of this year, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) said in its latest report.
The country’s unemployment rate fell to 25.7 percent – equivalent to an estimated 11.5 million adult Filipinos – in March 2014 from 27.5 percent or about 12.1 million last December.
Results of the SWS poll were printed in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday.
The unemployed people were composed of those who resigned (11.4 percent or an estimated 5.1 million adults), were retrenched (10.7 percent or 4.8 million) or were first-time jobseekers (3.3 percent or 1.5 million).
The retrenched were composed of 6.4 percent whose contracts were not renewed, 2.2 percent whose employers closed operations and two percent who were laid off.
“Adult joblessness has traditionally been dominated by those who voluntarily left their old jobs and who lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control,” the SWS noted.
The number of those who quit fell by 2.1 points from 13 percent, while those who were retrenched marginally rose from 10.4 percent.
First-time jobseekers barely changed from 3.5 percent.
SWS said unemployment fell everywhere except among women and those aged 35-44.
Joblessness among women rose by 1.9 points to 37.8 percent while among men it fell by 4.7 points to 16.5 percent.
By age, it dropped by 8.9 points among the youth or those 18-24 years old to 43.4 percent.
It also fell among those aged 25-34 to 30.5 percent from 33.1 percent and among those aged 45 and above to 16.5 percent from 17.7 percent.
Among those aged 35-44, joblessness rose by 0.5 points to 25.5 percent.
The same survey showed about four in 10 Filipinos (36 percent) saying that the number of job openings would increase in the next 12 months.
Thirty-two percent, on the other hand, said the situation would not change while 23 percent said fewer jobs would be available.
These resulted in a “fair” net optimism score of 13, down by six points from the also “fair” 19 recorded three months earlier.
The survey, taken from March 27 to 30, used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. –-Helen Flores with Sheila Crisostomo, Philippine Star
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