SWS: More jobless Filipinos in Q3
Credit to Author: Catherine S. Valente, TMT| Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2019 17:39:20 +0000
THE number of jobless Filipinos increased in the third quarter of 2019, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed on Saturday.
Labor and Employment at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City. PHOTO BY EDWIN MULI
Results of the poll conducted from September 27 to 30 showed that unemployment among adults rose to 21.5 percent (10 million Filipinos) of the country’s adult labor force.
The latest figure is higher than the 19.7 percent (9.4 million adults) and 20.7 percent (9.8 million adults) registered in March and June, respectively.
SWS defines adult joblessness as those seeking jobs for the first time, those who voluntarily left their old jobs, or those who got retrenched or lost their jobs because of economic circumstances beyond their control.
Of the 21.5 percent, 9.5 percent (4.4 million adults) said they voluntarily left their jobs, 3.5 percent (1.6 million) were first-time job seekers, and 8.4 percent (3.9 million) got retrenched.
The latter were made up of 2.7 million adults (5.8 percent) whose contracts expired and were not renewed 621,000 (1.3 percent) whose previous employer closed operations, and 596,000 (1.3 percent) who got laid off.
SWS blamed the rise in the number of unemployed Filipinos to increases in the rest of Luzon (25 percent or 5.3 million adults), Mindanao (19.9 percent or 2.2 million adults) and Metro Manila (24.5 percent or 1.6 million), combined with a decline in the Visayas (11.8 percent or 934,000 adults).
Fifty percent of respondents expect “more jobs” would be available and 13 percent said there would be “fewer jobs” in the next 12 months.
These translate to a net optimism score of +40 (percentage of those saying more jobs minus percentage of those saying fewer jobs), classified as “excellent.”
Also, 21 percent said there would be “no change” in the number of jobs available, and 12 percent said they “don’t know.”
The resulting net optimism score was 3 points below the record-high +43 in June.
“Since November 1998, the score had been excellent in only four observations — in December 2017 (+41), December 2018 (+40), and in June and September 2019,” SWS said.
The September survey, conducted using face-to-face interviews among 1,800 Filipino adults nationwide, had sampling error margins of ±2.3 percent for national percentages, ±4 percent each for Balance Luzon and Mindanao, and ±6 percent each for Metro Manila and the Visayas.