Unemployment rate up at 5.1% in October —Labor Force Survey

The jobless rate slightly rose in October and the employment rate declined, results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) Labor Force Survey showed Wednesday.

Of the 71.886-million population of 15 years old and above, the unemployment rate stood at 5.1 percent in October, from 5.0 percent in the same month last year.

This translates to 2.202 million of unemployed Filipinos in the labor force, compared with 2.185 million year-on-year.

“On unemployment, the reason for the slight increase is because of the storms that may have caused loss employment of some of our citizens,” National Statistician Lisa Grace Bersales told reporters in a press conference in Manila.

The employment rate slipped to 94.9 percent or 41.329 million Filipinos from 95.0 percent or 41.547 million in the same comparable period.

The labor force participation rate declined to 60.6 percent from 62.1 percent, Bersales noted.

“Baka ang isang rason ang ating mga bata na pwede pang mag-aral ay bumalik sa pag-aaral—Kayo ‘yung labor force participation. Maybe it’s because of the free tuition for state universities,” she said.

Underemployment, or full-time workers seeking additional hours of work, decreased to 13.3 percent or 5.502 million from 15.9 percent or 6.616 million.

“This is the lowest underemployment rate since 2003,” Bersales said.

The LFS is a nationwide household survey to gather data on the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the population and provide statistics on trends of employment, unemployment, and underemployment.

Employment  employment generated so far this year has reached around 826,000, behind the government’s annual target of 900,000 to 1.1 million, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in a separate statement.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NEDA chief Ernesto Pernia urged for a simplified process in issuing business permits and licenses, even reducing fees for the government to meet its employment target.

Even if the overall underemployment rate declined to more than a decade low, the survey also found that youth unemployment remained high at 13.3 percent compared to the target of 10.4 percent.

Pernia said more programs to address the recurring concerns about youth unemployment are needed . He proposed to restructure the academic curricula and make it on a par with 21st-century requirement, and strengthen linkages between schools and the private sector. —VDS, GMA News