SWS: Fewer Filipinos jobless in Q1 of 2019
Credit to Author: CATHERINE S. VALENTE, TMT| Date: Tue, 07 May 2019 14:03:51 +0000
FEWER Filipinos are jobless for the first quarter of the year, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Tuesday.
The poll survey from March 28 to 31 showed the joblessness rate at 19.7 percent, or 1.4 points below the 21.1 percent or an estimated 9.0 million adults in December 2018, and 2.3 points below the 22.0 percent or an estimated 9.8 million adults in September 2018.
“This marks the second consecutive quarter where there has been a decrease in the proportion of adults in the labor force who are jobless,” SWS said.
The pollster defines jobless adults as those who have either voluntarily left their previous jobs, lost their jobs because of retrenchment, or are seeking jobs for the first time.
The survey showed that 9.4 percent, or an estimated 4.5 million adults, resigned or left their jobs voluntarily, 7.6 percent or an estimated 3.6 million adults who were retrenched, and 2.7 percent or an estimated 1.3 million adults who were first-time job seekers as of March.
Of the 7.8 percent retrenched employees, 5.6 percent did not have their renewed contracts, 1.4 percent were laid off, and 0.5 percent had employers who closed operations.
The same survey also found that the adult labor force participation rate was at 71.4 percent or an estimated 47.6 million adults.
“This is 5.2 points above the 66.2 percent or an estimated 42.4 million adults in December 2018,” SWS said.
“The estimated size of the adult labor force in previous quarters were 44.4 million adults (69.3 percent of adults) in September 2018 and 43.8 million (68.3 percent) in June 2018,” it added.
Moreover, SWS said the 47.6 million adult labor force consisted of 58.1 percent or an estimated of 27.7 million adults were males while 41.9 percent or an estimated of 20.0 million adults were females.
Meanwhile, the same survey found that optimism on job availability – the outlook that there would be more jobs in the next 12 months – fell by two points from 52 percent in December to 50 percent in March.
On the other hand, SWS said pessimism – the outlook that there would be fewer jobs – rose by one point from 12 percent to 13 percent in December and March, respectively.
“The proportion of those who say there will be no change in job availability rose by three points, from 22 percent in December to 25 percent in March,” the polling firm said.
SWS said the resulting net optimism on job availability (percent more jobs minus percent fewer jobs) was a Very High +37 in March 2019.
“It soared from High +24 in September 2018 to Excellent +40 in December 2018 before dipping to Very High +37 in March 2019,” it added.
The SWS interviewed 1,440 adult Filipinos,using sampling error margins of ±2.6 percent for national percentages, and ±5 percent each for Balance Luzon, Metro Manila, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
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