Unemployed Pinoys drop to 2.7M or 6.9%, says NSO

The recovery in global trade in the first half of the year reduced the number of unemployed Filipinos to 2.708 million, according to the Labor Force Survey (LFS) released by the National Statistics Office (NSO) Wednesday. The unemployment rate in July this year was estimated at 6.9 percent as against last year’s 7.6 percent. This means that the number of unemployed decreased to 2.708 million in July this year from 2.922 million in July last year. The number of unemployed Filipinos was higher among men (62.6 percent) than women (37.4 percent). More than half or 52.4 percent of the unemployed were in the 15-24 age group. About a third or 32.5 percent of the unemployed were high school graduates, 22.7 percent had some college education, and 20.5 percent were college graduates. Meanwhile, the number of underemployed Filipinos fell to 6.5 million in July from 7.034 million in the same period last year. This meant slower a underemployment rate of 17.9 percent from 19.8 percent in the same comparable period. The underemployed are those who express a desire to have additional hours in their present job, to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours, according to the survey. Visibly underemployed More than half or 58.1 percent of the underemployed was reported as visibly underemployed or working less than 40 hours during the reference week. Those working for 40 hours or more accounted for 40.4 percent. Most of the underemployed were working in the agriculture (46.7 percent) and services (37.8 percent) sectors. The underemployed in the industry sector was 15.5 percent. The NSO said that the employment rate reached 93.1 percent, which translates to around 36.3 million Pinoys having jobs. The employment rate in July last year was at 92.4 percent. Among the regions, Cagayan Valley, Zamboanga Peninsula, Northern Mindanao, and Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao posted the highest employment rate at 96 percent. Metro Manila had the lowest employment rate at 89.1 percent. The July 2010 survey also revealed that the size of the labor force was approximately 39 million out of an estimated 60.9 million population of those legally employable from 15 years old and above. These numbers translate to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 64 percent. The LFPR in July 2009 was 64.6 percent. Of the 36.3 million employed Filipinos in July, the services sector accounted for the largest group of more than half or 51.2 percent of the total. Services sector The largest number of workers (19.4 percent) in the services sector was in the wholesale and retail trade, and those repairing motor vehicles, motorcycles, and personal and household goods. Workers in the agriculture sector accounted for 33.9 percent of the total employed, with those engaged in the agriculture, hunting, and forestry sub-sector making up the largest sub-sector or 29.9 percent. Only 14.9 percent of the total employed was in the industry sector, with the manufacturing sub-sector making up the largest 8.3 percent of the total. Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers were the largest group at 31.8 percent. Farmers, forestry workers, and fishermen were the second largest group, accounting for 16.8 percent of all the employed Filipinos. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV