Thailand
Philippines: Unemployment rate steadies at 5.4% in July
MANILA, Philippines — The unemployment rate in the country steadied at 5.4 percent in July despite the addition of 100,000 more Filipinos to the ranks of those looking for jobs, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported yesterday.
There are now 2.43 million jobless Filipinos compared with 2.33 million last year.
Deputy National Statistician Rosalinda Bautista said the steady jobless figure could be attributed to the increase in the country’s labor pool to 73.13 million during the July 2018 round of the PSA’s Labor Force Survey compared with 72.56 million last year.
The labor force pertains to Filipinos aged 15 years and above who are assumed capable of doing productive work.
Also, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) expanded further to 62.1 percent from 60.1 percent as more Filipinos are encouraged to join the labor force.
Bautista said more Filipinos, particularly those aged 15 to 24, are now actively looking for jobs.
“The government must continue encouraging the private sector to increase employment opportunities for young people, supporting technical vocational training, promoting apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs among the youth,” said National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon.
“While the Philippine economy has shown remarkable improvements in the labor market, the government should continually improve its efforts towards generating more productive and higher quality employment that provides adequate income for Filipino workers and their families,” she added.
Meanwhile, employment figures likewise remained steady due to the higher employment and lower underemployment in July 2019.
The employment rate remained the same at 94.6 percent year-on-year, translating to 42.9 million Filipinos gainfully employed, up from 40.65 million in the same period last year.
As such, 2.3 million more Filipinos were engaged in full-time work this year compared with last year.
This was boosted by stronger employment in the services and agriculture sectors.
The underemployment rate, on the other hand, eased to 13.9 percent, from 17.2 percent last year as the number of Filipinos searching for more work decreased by more than one million.
By gender, the percentage of working men at 61 percent still outpaced the number of gainfully employed women at 39 percent.
Edillon said the government needs to speed up on its programs and policies in order to meet the government’s goal of increasing female participation in the labor force.
To achieve target in increasing female LFPR, monitoring and strict implementation of programs and policies geared towards fostering women’s economic participation need to be intensified such as the Expanded Maternity Leave Act and Telecommuting Act, which recognizes alternative work-from-home arrangements in the private sector,” she said.
Source: https://www.philstar.com/business/2019/09/06/1949402/unemployment-rate-steadies-54-july#gfitPAqcwx2WFopZ.99