DOLE welcomes latest labor force survey, vows to do better

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Labor and Employment welcomed the positive result of the 2015 October Round of the Labor Force Survey, with a pledge that the agency will press harder forward in the next six months with its reform programs and services.

DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, in a statement, said that the result of the 2015 October LFS affirms the results of previous LFS of the Philippine Statistics Authority showing that the Aquino administration has achieved concrete gains in decent work.

“In this particular survey round, the net increase in the number of employed persons (+163,000) is marked by quality employment, as shown by the number of employed persons working full time, or those who worked 40 hours or more, reaching 25.892 million, or an increase of 691,000 over the 24.720 million posted in the 2014 October LFS round,” Baldoz said.

She said that the services sector is still the biggest source of increase in employment, posting a net gain of 440,000 which, when combined with the increase of 169,000 posted by the industry sector, offset the losses of 446,000 recorded in agriculture, obviously on account of the El Niño phenomenon.

In the industry sector, she said construction recorded an increase of 144,000, followed by manufacturing (+35,000).

In the services sector, one of the gainers were public administration and defense; compulsory social security; education; and human health and social work activities, results which could indicate increased government spending for social services.

She said that another indicator of decent work gains is the number of wage and salary workers.

In this survey round, the number of wage and salary workers reached 23.127 million, 573,000 higher than the 22.554 million recorded in the 2014 October LFS round.

Conversely, those who are self-employed without any paid employee declined by 123,000, while those who worked without pay in own family-operated businesses—the so-called unpaid family workers—also decreased by 385,000, from 4.171 million in the 2014 October LFS round to 3.786 million in the current survey round.

“Overall, I am pleased that the number of unemployed persons continues to decrease, reaching 2.345 million in this survey round from the 2.482 million in the same round last year, effectively pegging the unemployment rate at 5.7 percent,” said Baldoz.

Baldoz added that this is the sixth consecutive round that the unemployment rate had dipped below seven percent, and the 20th consecutive round that the unemployment rate has remained a single-digit.  She further said that the number of underemployed Filipinos has declined by almost half a million (-413,000), reaching only 6.866 million in this survey round compared to the 7.278 million in the 2014 October LFS round.

Despite the positive result, Baldoz said they will further work on their programs and services that have contributed positively to the national goal of employment generation and poverty reduction towards inclusive growth. — Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/NSA (FREEMAN)