Jobless Filipinos up to 4.14M in April amid reimposition of MECQ

The number of unemployed Filipinos grew in April from the previous month as major areas in the country reverted back into the strict quarantine restrictions during the month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday.

Data released by the PSA showed that unemployed Filipinos stood at 4.14 million in April, bringing the unemployment rate to 8.7%. This is higher than than the 3.44 million jobless Filipinos and 7.1% unemployment rate in March.

The NCR Plus bubble — Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Rizal, and Bulacan — was placed under modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) from April 12 until April 30.

This is one notch less restrictive than the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that was imposed in NCR Plus starting March 29. It was set to last only until April 4 but was extended for another week until April 11.

The NCR region recorded the highest unemployment rate for the month at 14.4%, equivalent to 875,000 jobless Filipinos versus the 506,000 unemployed individuals in January. There were no comparative data for the previous months.

National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said the NCR unemployment figure for April was the second-highest on record, second only to July 2020's 15.8%.

Unemployment rate in Region II or the Cagayan Valley likewise posted a substantial increase in April with an unemployment rate of 13.4% versus 6.0% recorded in January.

Nationwide, industries with the largest month-on-month drop was construction, which fell by 805,000 to 4.14 million; agriculture and forestry, down 493,000 to 9.21 million; trade, which dropped 456,000 to 9.85 million; manufacturing, which slipped 140,000 to 3.42 million; and financial and insurance activities, which lost 82,000 to 598,000.

The underemployment rate — covering employed persons who decide to have additional hours of work in the present job, or have an additional job, or have a new job — likewise rose to 17.2% in April from 16.0% in January.

There were 7.45 million underemployed persons in April, up from 6.59 million recorded in January.

The top reason for the employed not at work was the lockdown restriction during the time, accounting for 61.7%. This was followed by health and medical limitations with 6.4%, the reduction in work with 6.2%, the variable working time with 6.1%, personal reasons with 5.6%, and other reasons with 4.2%.

Meanwhile, employment rate fell to 91.3% from 92.9% in March. The latest showing is the same as the rates recorded in October 2020, and January and February this year.

In absolute numbers, the employment rate covers 43.27 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were employed in April out of the 47.41 million part of the labor force during the period.

"The recent imposition of the ECQ and MECQ was not wasted given the significant decline in COVID-19 cases in the NCR Plus area, where hospital bed capacity was sharply increased and the prevent, detect, isolate, treat, and recover strategy was further enforced," the government's economic team said in a separate statement.

"Given this progress, we are ready to take well-calibrated steps to achieve better health and job outcomes for the people. The government continues to implement its three-pillar strategy to ensure our recovery," the statement read.

The first pillar is the further reopening of the economy toward a modified general community quarantine, the second is the implementation of a recovery package, and the third is the accelerated implementation of the vaccination program.

"With 27.7 million vaccine doses arriving from May to July 2021, we are confident that we can bring more Filipinos safely to work, inoculate 70 million Filipinos or the entire adult population by the end of the year, and recover strongly in the next two years," the economic team said.  

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III echoed the economic managers’ statement, saying the Labor department had anticipated that the improvement in employment reported in March 2021 will not be sustained due to the imposition of ECQ within the NCR Plus bubble in March to April, and MECQ from May 1 to 15.

“This had significantly affected the April 2021 LFS (Labor Force Survey) result as businesses and mobility of workers were again restricted to contain the spread of the virus,” Bello said.

The Labor chief said his department is one with the economic managers in safely reopening businesses so mobility of workers is also facilitated in a less restrictive community quarantine levels.

“This is the only way to sustain our employment recovery and economic recovery efforts. The current labor market condition may be improved by the timely rollout of vaccines for A4 categories of priority groups - the workers. We call upon all Filipino workers to get themselves inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines,” Bello said. —KBK, GMA News