More Filipinos jobless as crisis' effects deepen

MANILA, Philippines - Unemployment climbed to 7.7 percent in January, the highest since April’s 8.0 percent, and more Filipinos are expected to swell the ranks of the jobless due to the global economic crisis. Equivalent to 2.855 million affected workers, the rise reversed a downtrend that started with July’s 7.4 percent and 6.8 percent in October. Analysts said the data was not seasonally adjusted and they believe the actual rate could be understated. “The actual data is very seasonal so you’ve always got to take it with a grain of salt," said Nicholas Bibby, regional economist and strategist at Barclays Capital. “It is slightly up compared with what it was last year. This is understandable given the weakness that we are seeing coming through especially for the electronics sector." The Philippines’ jobless rate is the second highest among the biggest Southeast Asian economies, behind Indonesia which reported its latest figure as 8.4 percent as of August. The unemployment rate in Thailand at the end of last year was 1.4 percent, below Singapore’s 2.6 percent, Malaysia’s 3.3 percent and Vietnam’s urban reading of 4.65 percent. In the Philippines, job losses and reduced work hours have been on the rise particularly in the semiconductor and electronics sector, which produce just over half of the country’s exports revenues, as global demand shrank. “Overall, I think the real unemployment rate should be higher than this," said Simon Wong at Standard Chartered Bank in Singapore. “I would expect it to move higher for the rest of 2009." Benjamin E. Diokno, an economist at the University of the Philippines said, “the numbers continue to show weaknesses." “Exports and imports went down in recent months; manufacturing went down and so there were some losses of jobs," said Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis, Jr. of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines. “In [the] semiconductor [industry] alone, the reported job losses is about 40,000 already," he said, adding “this scenario is expected to worsen before it gets better." Exports are seen to further slide this year due the weaker outlook in global demand for electronics, according to the Export Development Council. But another UP economist, Solita C. Monsod, said the latest labor figures “are not enough reason to panic; a 0.3 percent increase in unemployment is not unusual." “[It] is not the sad story we expected; it’s just that we created only so much jobs. This is expected of a slowdown," she said. In the last 12 months, the Philippines created over 565,000 jobs but this was not enough to meet the demand of a faster-growing labor force, which grew by 1.267 million to 58.657 million as of January. This pulled the employment rate down to 92.3 percent. About 210,000 were added to the number of underemployed — those who have jobs but want to work more, an increase of 3.5 percent from October, the government said. The percentage of underemployed climbed to 18.2 percent of the total employed in January from 17.5 percent in October. “But on a net basis, as some people lost jobs and people gained jobs, the economy was able to accommodate the increase in the labor force," Ms. Monsod said. She noted employment figures for the service sector which were up by over 600,000. Farm employment also rose by 61,000. The latest Labor Force Survey also affirmed the view of a changing labor market in light of the crisis. The survey showed a slightly expanding informal sector but the ranks of wage and salary workers also grew. The self-employed shrunk in number. “It means your self-employed workers were absorbed into your wage and salaried workers," Ms. Monsod said. “In a recession, you expect self-employment to go up. In this case, your own account workers went down," she noted, adding that with this, “we are not in a recession." The Labor department, meanwhile, said it remained “cautiously optimistic" in its outlook. “We’re doing okay, not bad, not brilliant but okay and compared to the United States we’re in better shape." Assistant Secretary Reydeluz D. Conferido said. - main report from Reuters with Emilia Narni J. David, BusinessWorld