ALMOST 11 million Filipino adults were jobless in the first quarter of 2018, 8.2 percent more than the previous quarter, the latest Social Weather Stations survey shows.
The SWS Survey, conducted March 23-27, 2018, found adult joblessness at 23.9 percent or an estimated 10.9 million adults without work, up from 15.7 percent or 7.2 million in December 2017. This was the highest recorded joblessness since December 2016, the survey said.
The joblessness rate was made up of 12.6 percent or 5.8 million adults who voluntarily left their jobs, 7.7 percent or 3.5 million who lost their jobs and the 3.5 percent of 1.6 million new job seekers.
The survey of 1,200 respondents showed a slight decrease in the rate of adult labor force participation, at 71.4 percent from 72.1 percent in December 2017.
SWS’ adult joblessness data refers to adults in the labor force. Those with a job at present, plus those without a job at present and looking for a job, are part of the labor force.
Workforce job optimism or the number of people who think there would be more jobs in the next 12 months decreased with 49 percent in March from 53 percent in December 2017, SWS said.
Those who expected fewer jobs were at 12 percent, while 25 percent said there would be no change in job availability.
Joblessness increased in all areas except in the National Capital Region where the number decreased to 19.0 percent from 19.5 percent in December 2017 and 24.9 percent in March 2017.
Among women, joblessness increased to 33.9 percent from 26.7 percent while joblessness in men also rose to 16.1 percent from 7.6 percent for the same period, the survey showed.
Joblessness in workers from 18 to 24 years old rose to 53.1 percent from 45.0 percent. For 25 to 34-year-olds, the number increased to 26.6 from 23.9 percent, SWS said.
The March 2018 Social Weather Survey was conducted from March 23-27, 2018 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide. The survey had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Meanwhile, the Ibon Foundation reported that more than 1 million people joined the ranks of the underemployed or part-time workers, bringing the total to 7.5 million in January.
The number of workers relegated to insecure and low-paying jobs has increased under the Duterte administration, the group reported.
The number of employed increased to 41.8 million in January 2018 from 39.3 million in the same period last year, with the employment rate at 94.7 percent and 93.4 percent, respectively.
At the same time, the unemployment rate declined to 5.3 percent in January 2018 from 6.6 percent in January 2017.
Despite the upturn in employment, there are now more Filipinos who are underemployed or seeking more work, Ibon said.
The number of part-time workers, or those working less than 40 hours per week, also went up.
The underemployment rate of 18 percent as of January 2018 rose from 16.3 percent the year before.
The number of underemployed Filipinos grew by 1.1 million or from 6.4 million the year before to 7.5 million in January this year.
There was also an increase in the number of part-time workers, Ibon said, growing by 1.3 million (9.3 percent) to 14.7 million in January 2018 from 13.4 million the year before.
Another indication of the worsening jobs situation is that informal sector workers, or the number of own-account workers and unpaid family workers combined, rose by 1.4 million (9.2 percent) to 16 million in January 2018 from 14.6 million in January 2017.
Ibon said the government must adopt and implement the “much-needed” reforms that give priority to the interest and welfare of the worker over the profits of big businesses.
