9.8M Filipinos jobless in Q3 – SWS

November 11, 2018

A total of 9.8 million Filipinos were jobless during the third quarter of 2018, according to Social Weather Stations latest survey.

Released on Saturday, SWS said 22.0 percent Filipinos did not have or just lost their jobs and some were still seeking, 2.3 points higher from the 19.7 percent in June but 1.8 points below the 23.9 percent in March of this year.

“Of the 22 percent in September 2018, 9.2 percent or 4.1 million adults were retrenched, 8.4 percent or 3.7 million adults voluntarily left their old jobs, and 4.4 percent or 2.0 million adults are first-time job seekers,” it said.

“The 9.2 percent who were retrenched consisted of 6.6 percent whose previous contracts were not renewed, 1.6 percent who were laid off, and 1.0 percent whose employers closed operations,” it added.

Jobless Filipinos were highest in Metro Manila at 26.4 percent followed by Balance Luzon at 22.9 percent, Mindanao at 19.7 percent, and Visayas at 19.6 percent.

The number of people who was optimistic that there would be more jobs in the next 12 months fell by 8 points from 47 percent last June to 39 percent in September, while pessimism that there would be fewer jobs rose by 1 point from 15 percent to 16 percent.

Those who said that there would be no change in job availability rose by 4 points from 24 points in June to 27 percent in September.

SWS found more women have no jobs compared to men at 32.8 percent from 26.1 percent in June. Also ages 18 to 24 years old were jobless at 40.1 percent though lower than the previous 29.1 percent.

“As usual, adult joblessness was higher among the self-rated poor at 23.7 percent, compared to non-poor families at 20.4 percent,” it said.

Malacanang on Sunday said it is seriously looking at the latest survey and continuously finding ways to improve the local employment situation.

“President Rodrigo Duterte recently signed the Republic Act No. 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business Act, to streamline business processes and reduce processing time in all government agencies to make the country more conducive to investments thereby creating more and better jobs for our people,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said.

He said with the appointment of Isidro Lapena as Director-General of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), the Palace is more confident that he could improve the industry-relevant competencies for the youth, especially the unutilized, unemployed, and underemployed school dropouts, and increase their opportunities for work experience through skills training.

“Indeed, there will be no let-up in our efforts to bring down the unemployment rate and increase labor participation among our youth and women,” he added.

The latest survey conducted from September 15-23, had 1,500 respondents in face-to-face interviews, with an error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent for Balance Luzon, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. Ella Dionisio/DMS