Jobless Filipinos soar to 9.8 million in Q3 — SWS

MANILA, Philippines — The number of jobless Filipinos soared to 9.8 million in the third quarter of 2018, according to a survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS). 

The survey, conducted from Sept. 15 to 23 with the results released yesterday afternoon, revealed that jobless adults in the country increased from 19.7 percent in June to 22 percent in September. 

It was lower than 23.9 percent recorded in March. 

SWS said the latest figure represents an increase of around 1.2 million in the number of jobless adult Filipinos, which was placed at 8.6 million in June. 

Adult joblessness consists of those who voluntarily left their jobs, those who lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control, termed as the retrenched, and those seeking jobs for the first time.

Of the 22 percent in September, SWS said 9.2 percent were retrenched, 8.4 percent voluntarily left their job and 4.4 percent are first-time job seekers. 

Those who were retrenched consisted of 6.6 percent whose previous contracts were not renewed, 1.6 percent who were laid off and one percent whose employers closed operations.

SWS said adult joblessness stayed the highest in Metro Manila at 26.4 percent (up by 6.9 points from 19.4 percent in June), followed by the rest of Luzon at 22.9 percent (up by 3.5 points from 19.3 percent), Mindanao at 19.7 percent (down by 1.5 points from 21.2 percent) and the Visayas at 19.6 percent (up by 0.6 point from 19 percent).

Joblessness is also higher among women, those aged between 18-24 that rated themselves as poor. 

The same survey also showed a decrease in the number of people who believe that there will be more available jobs next year. 

Those who believe that there will be more jobs fell eight points from 47 percent in June to 39 percent in September. 

Meanwhile, those who believe that there will be fewer jobs increased from 15 percent to 16 percent. 

The survey included 1,500 respondents and had a margin of error of +/- three percent.