SWS: Unemployment up, now affects 11.3M Pinoys

Unemployment is still high and has “appreciably" increased from late 2010, affecting some 11.3 million in March compared to 9.9 million in November 2010, according to a new survey by pollster Social Weather Stations. In its survey, the SWS said joblessness among Filipinos at least 18 years old rose to 27.2 percent in March, when thousands of students graduated from college. The figure increased from 23.5 percent four months earlier. The SWS survey, whose results were posted on its media partner BusinessWorld Monday, said the 11.3 million who are out of work included those who resigned or were retrenched, plus an increase in first-time jobseekers. It noted the official unemployment figure of 7.4 percent as of January — equivalent to some 2.9 million Filipinos — was up from 7.1 percent in October 2010. The SWS defines joblessness as those “not working and at the same time looking for work." Government definition On the other hand, the government’s official definition since 2005 has included the concept of “availability for work," taking away individuals looking for jobs but are not available and includes those available but not seeking work for reasons such as tiredness/belief no job is available, awaiting results of an application, temporary illness/disability, bad weather and waiting for rehire/recall. In calculating unemployment, the government also uses a lower labor force boundary of 15 years of age. Applying the official definition, the SWS said the jobless rate among adults 18 years old and above would be 16.8 percent, equivalent to an estimated 6.1 million Filipinos. Unemployment high since May 2005 SWS said unemployment has been high since May 2005, falling below 20 percent only three times, the last being 18.9 percent in September 2010. It added the new rate of 27.2 percent is similar to 27.1 percent in March 2010. The SWS record high is 34.2 percent, hit in February 2009. Adult unemployment In the last two surveys, adult unemployment was said to be primarily composed of those who quit or were retrenched. For the latest figure of 27.2 percent, the SWS said 9 percent had lost their jobs, 10 percent had voluntarily left and 7 percent were first-time job seekers. Of the 9 percent who lost their jobs due to circumstances beyond their control, 7 percent did not have their contracts renewed (up from 5 percent in the previous survey), 1 percent saw their companies cease operations (unchanged from November) and 1 percent were laid off (down from 2 percent previously). The SWS survey was conducted from March 4-7 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. Sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national and ±6 percent for area percentages applied to the survey. — KBK, GMA News