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PHL jobless rate unchanged in July - NSO


The number of employed Filipinos was nearly unchanged in July, the National Statistics Office reported on Thursday. Citing the results of the July 2011 Labor Force Survey, the NSO said unemployment rate was at 7.1 percent, marginally higher than the 7-percent jobless rate in July 2010. "The number of employed persons in July 2011 Labor Force Survey was estimated at 37.1 million. This number translates to an employment rate of 92.9 percent. The employment rate in the same quarter last year was 93.0 percent," the NSO said. Out of the estimated 62-million Philippine population that were 15 years old and above, 39.9 million were in the labor force or those that were employed or were seeking work. The service sector remained the top employer of Filipino workers, accounting for 52.2 percent of the total employed population, followed by the agriculture sector, 32.6 percent and industry sector, 15.2 percent. "Across regions, Cagayan Valley had the highest employment rate at 97.6 percent, followed by Zamboanga Peninsula (96.7 percent), Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (96.3 percent) and Mimaropa (96.2 percent). The National Capital Region had the lowest employment rate at 89.1 percent," the NSO said. Among the various occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers comprised the largest group, making up 32.6 percent of the total employed population. This was also the largest occupation group in July 2010 (31.8 percent). Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen were the second largest group of workers accounting for 15.2 percent of the total employed Of the total number of employed Filipinos, more than half or 56.3 percent were wage and salary workers and most of them were working for private establishments (42.4 percent). Those working for the government or government controlled corporations accounted for 8.3 percent of the total employed, while workers in private households, 5.3 percent. Self-employed workers without any paid employee constituted 29.5 percent of the total employed while employers in own family operated farm or business made up 3.5 percent. The unpaid family workers accounted for 10.7 percent. There were also more males (62.6 percent) than females (37.4 percent) among the unemployed. More than half (53.1 percent) of the unemployed were in age group 15 to 24 years. One-third (33.6 percent) of the unemployed were high school graduates, 21.8 percent were college graduates, and 20.8 percent were college graduates," the NSO added. Underemployment rate, or those who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours, was at 19.1 percent (7.1 million), higher than 17.9 percent reported in July last year. - CMA/OMG, GMA News