Unemployment rate in April climbed to 8.7 percent from 7.1 percent in March after the government re-imposed the enhanced community quarantine and later the modified ECQ in the National Capital Region Plus area starting March 29.
“This resulted in a temporary reversal of our first-quarter employment gains, which show the tight link between labor market outcomes and the level of quarantine restrictions. However, compared to last year’s ECQ, the overall labor market outcomes are substantially better as we took a more risk-based approach in imposing restrictions,” the government economic managers said in a joint statement.
Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the unemployment rate in April actually improved from the record high 17.6 percent in the same month last year when the first QCQ was enforced.
The economic managers said instead of shutting down three-fourths of the economy like what happened last year, the government allowed public transportation and more sectors to operate, but still subject to the minimum health standards. “Our experience this year shows that we can reduce cases while helping people recover their jobs and income at the same time,” they said.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the higher jobless rate in April was expected with the heightened restrictions imposed during the period. “However, this is deemed temporary as we are back in the process of gradual, calibrated and safe reopening of the economy to protect both our people and jobs, and we are confident that we are well on track towards a v-shaped economic recovery,” he said.
“With the arrival of more vaccines this month, and the rollout of our vaccination for the 35 million A4 priority group or the economic frontliners, we can expect significant acceleration of vaccine capacity towards the 500,000 jabs per day level. This will allow us to fast-track the vaccination rollout and achieve higher immunity and greater consumer and business confidence sooner than later,” Lopez said.
Results of the Labor Force survey showed that there were 4.14 million unemployed individuals with ages above 15 years in April, down by 3.09 million from 7.23 million unemployed persons in April 2020.
The labor force participation rate in April this year was placed at 63.2 percent, translating into 47.41 million who were either employed or unemployed. This was higher than the LFPR in the same quarter last year at 55.7 percent but lower than the LFPR a month ago at 65.0 percent, according to the PSA.
Employment rate posted a month-on-month decline in April when the ECQ and MECQ was re-imposed in the National Capital Region and nearby areas. From a 92.9-percent employment rate in March 2021, it dropped to 91.3 percent in April 2021.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, Economic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua and Budget Secretary Wendel Avisado they said the first-quarter showed encouraging results in terms of the control of the spread of COVID-19 and boosted efforts to reopen the economy.
They said that while the economy lost 8.7 million jobs at the height of the quarantines in April 2020, the economy generated 9.4 million jobs or a net of 0.7 million jobs between April 2020 to April 2021. “Improving the rate of job creation will be crucial in our recovery effort this year,” they said.
They said with 27.7 million vaccine doses arriving from May to July 2021, the government was confident of bringing more Filipinos safely to work, inoculate 70 million Filipinos or the entire adult population by the end of the yea, and recover strongly in the next two years.
The economy contracted by a record 9.6 percent in 2020 amid the pandemic. Economic managers earlier projected a 6 percent to 7 percent GDP expansion this year, aided by the rollout of COVID vaccines.
Meanwhile, the underemployment rate was recorded at 17.2 percent in April. This was lower than the 18.9 percent reported in April 2020 but higher than the January 2021 estimate of 16.0 percent.
The PSA said that in terms of magnitude, about 7.45 million persons were reported underemployed in April 2021.
