FIVE out of 100 Filipinos who are part of the country’s labor force are jobless, according to the results of the January round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday.
The PSA said the country’s jobless rate remained at 5.3 percent, the same level posted in January 2019. There were 2.39 million unemployed during the period, higher than last year’s 2.28 million. The figures, PSA assistant national statistician Wilma A. Guillen said, were adjusted using 2015 population estimates.
“[The] population [of Filipinos] 15 years old and over was estimated at 73 million in January 2020. This estimate was placed at 71.89 million last year of the same period,” Guillen told reporters in a news briefing in Quezon City onThursday.
“Out of this population, 45.04 million were part of the labor force in January 2020 compared to 43.31 million last year of the same month,” she added.
PSA data also showed the underemployment rate fell to 14.8 percent in January 2020, from last year’s 15.4 percent. Guillen said the rates correspond to 6.32 million underemployed workers, lower than last year’s 6.33 million.
Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (Acerd) Director Alvin P. Ang said the decline in underemployment is a “positive development.”
Underemployment reflects the quality of jobs available in the country. PSA said underemployed persons who worked for less than 40 hours in a week are called visibly underemployed persons.
Industry jobs
However, Ang said a closer look at the employment data show that industry jobs created during the period declined to 8 million in January 2020 from 8.17 million. This translated to 163,000 job losses during the period.
Jobs in construction
declined by 109,000; manufacturing, 50,000; and water supply, sewage, waste
management and remediation
activities, 16,000.
“The decline reflects the impact of the trade war between the United States and China on manufacturing,” said Ang.
PSA data also showed that there was an increase of 775,000 employed Filipinos in the ranks of unpaid workers in family-operated farms or businesses nationwide.
Data showed there were a total of 2.66 million Filipinos who worked in family businesses for free in January, 41.22 percent higher than the 1.88 million recorded last year.
Most of these workers are in Agriculture (1.44 million) and Services (1.11 million). In Industry, only 107,000 workers are in family-owned businesses.
The latest figures are higher by 405,000 than the 1.3 million in Agriculture; by 345,000 than the 764,000 in Services; and by 25,000 than the 82,000 in Industry recorded in 2019.
“It simply tells us that there are not enough jobs for them. Hence, they have chosen to work without pay in family-operated enterprises. This reflects the lack of quality paying jobs for many,” said University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics Dean Cid Terosa.
Economist Calixto V. Chikiamco said given the latest developments, the outlook on the country’s employment situation will not be rosy. Chikiamco said apprehension about the spread of the 2019-novel coronavirus (COVID-19) could disrupt the local labor market.
However, he said it is difficult to make conclusions about
government employment data, as Filipinos who worked for only one hour in the
past week are considered “employed.”
Preparations
Nonetheless, Ang said there is a need for the government to prepare for possible job losses, but this could force Manila to borrow more.
He also said government must ramp up its infrastructure program, dubbed “Build, Build, Build,” and agriculture production to create more job opportunities for Filipinos.
Ang said government preparations should include the crafting of social protection measures, including lay off packages that can tide over local workers and overseas Filipino workers who could lose their jobs.
COVID-19 has spread to 60 countries and the US-China trade war affects multiple countries through global value chains.
PSA data showed that in January 2020, majority or 63.3 percent of the unemployed were male.
Of the total unemployed, the age group 15 to 24 years comprised 42.4 percent, while the age group 25 to 34, accounted for 32.1 percent.
By educational attainment, 26.9 percent of the unemployed were college graduates, 10 percent were college undergraduates, and 28.7 percent have completed junior high school. PSA said graduates of junior high school include those who were covered by the old curriculum.
Among the regions, Ilocos region (8.8 percent), Calabarzon (6.7 percent), National Capital Region (6.2 percent) and Central Luzon (6 percent), have unemployment rates higher than the national figure.