Jobless rate eases to 6.7% in July

MANILA, Philippines - Unemployment in the country eased in July as the labor market, particularly in the services and industrial sectors, absorbed more jobs, the state data agency said yesterday.

In its latest jobs report, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said the unemployment rate went down to 6.7 percent in July, from 7.3 percent a year earlier.

Likewise,  underemployment – the proportion of those already working but still wanted more work – fell to 18.3 percent from 19.2 percent in the same period last year.

“The number of employed Filipinos grew by 2.8 percent in July 2014 to 38.5 million from 37.4 million in the same period last year. This means 1.06 million jobs were generated from July 2013 to July 2014,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and PSA chairman Arsenio M. Balisacan.

He said the labor force participation rate (LFPR) also increased to 64.4 percent in July 2014 compared to 63.9 percent a year ago. The country’s labor force now stands at 41.23 million.

“To some extent, the growth in the LFPR reflects the more positive outlook of workers in line with the momentum created by the robust economic growth in recent years, along with the expectations of better employment,” Balisacan said.

Employment generation during the period was driven by the services and industrial sectors.

However, in agriculture, which account for bulk of the country’s labor force, employment generated was mostly in part-time work.

“This dampened overall mean hours of work,” Balisacan said.

He pointed out though that the July 2014 data still exclude figures from the province of Leyte as no survey was conducted in the area due to destruction and labor displacement caused by Super Typhoon Yolanda.

Balisacan urged the national government to continue fostering an economic climate conducive to business and investment to sustain the labor market gains that were achieved in the recent quarters of this year.

He said in the industry sector, the key objective should be to increase investment, especially in labor-intensive sectors, and to encourage the existing pool of employers to hire more workers.

The infrastructure program of government, reconstruction activities in the Visayas and other disaster-hit areas, and private construction are also immediate drivers of labor demand, he added.

In services, he said the focus must be on increasing sales and clients enough to warrant the hiring of workers. There is much room for expansion in business-process management and tourism-related activities.

The agriculture sector is a little complicated being seasonal and low-paying, which impacts on the quality of jobs and job generation.

This can be addressed by introducing non-farm employment opportunities during the off-season, e.g., value-adding activities and community-based employment program, Balisacan said.