Nearly a million underemployed workers were able to get decent work as of October, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
Based on the October Labor Force Survey (LFS), underemployment rate, or the proportion of employed wanting additional work hours, declined to—or was recorded at—15.9 percent in October, around 2.1 percentage points lower than the 18 percent posted in 2016.
Underemployed persons who work for less than 40 hours in a week called “visibly underemployed persons” accounted for 53.9 percent of the total underemployed in October 2017 and 54.1 percent in October 2016.
“The lower underemployment rate and the higher proportion of wage and salary workers indicate improvement in the quality of employment in the country,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.
“Regular conduct of job fairs and provision of livelihood assistance have contributed to the improvement of underemployment, especially in areas outside of the National Capital Region (NCR). This is a good indicator that our efforts in the lagging regions are starting to take effect,” he added.
However, the decline in the number of underemployed workers was accompanied by an increase in the country’s jobless rate to 5 percent, from 4.7 percent. Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Emmanuel F. Esguerra said these contrary results were possible, given that the number of underemployed Filipinos is a mere subset of the employed workers.
This means, Esguerra explained, that even if there was a decrease in underemployment, employment could increase or decrease, a movement that is separate from the movement of the underemployment rate.
“What is important is we take a look at where those reductions came from,” Esguerra told the BusinessMirror. “All we can say is fewer of the employed say they want more hours of work.”
Neda Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon told the BusinessMirror that most of the underemployed workers are unpaid family workers. This could be explained by the increase in wage and salary workers.
Data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority showed that wage and salary workers increased to 62.3 percent in October, from 60.6 percent in 2016. The largest increase came from those that worked for private establishments to 48.6 percent in October from 47.6 percent in 2016.
Data also showed that those who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business decreased to 6 percent in October from 8.6 percent.
Meanwhile, underemployment in Areas outside the NCR was registered at 17 percent, lower by 2.6 points, from the 19.6 percent in 2016.
However, total employment decreased to 41.6 million in October 2017, lower by 0.3 points from a year ago. Employment rate also fell to 95 percent, from 95.3 percent in 2016.
Agriculture, accounting for 25 percent of the country’s total employment, shed around 1.4 million jobs (-12.1 percent). The said sector contributed to the setback in the overall employment rate in October 2017.
Pernia emphasized the need to closely monitor the farm sector to ensure that those engaged in agriculture are highly productive and resilient and are increasingly linked to the industry and services sectors.
“Agriculture sector is very vulnerable to risks, including natural and man-made hazards. The government should strengthen early-warning systems and social-protection programs for the sector to ensure resiliency of agricultural communities,” he said.
He added that the sector requires sustainable productivity improvements by promoting value addition, product diversification and accelerating local infrastructure provision like irrigation systems and farm-to-market roads.
On the other hand, industry and services, which accounted for 75.1 percent of the total employment, grew by 5.2 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
The Neda also emphasized the need to pursue policies to increase labor-force participation of women, including: (a) the full implementation of the responsible parenthood and reproductive health law; (b) improved access and affordability of child-care services; (c) policies that promote work-life balance, including a regulatory framework to allow part-time work and work-from-home even in the formal sector; (d) the provision of retraining services for women returning to the work force; (e) enhancing maternal and paternal benefits; and (f) improved access of women to entrepreneurial opportunities.
The LFS is a nationwide quarterly survey of households to gather data on the
demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population and provide statistics on levels and trends of employment, unemployment and underemployment in the country.
Image credits: Nonie Reyes