More jobs generated this year, but underemployment continues to nag
THE ADMINISTRATION of President Rodrigo R. Duterte is ending its first six months in office with an improved employment situation that augurs well for efforts to make sure the country’s relatively fast economic growth lifts more Filipinos out of poverty when he ends his term in mid-2022.
Preliminary data released yesterday by the Philippine Statistics Authority — based on the average of four Labor Force Survey rounds in January, April, July and October — showed annual labor force participation, consisting of economically active people whether employed or unemployed, at 63.4%, equivalent to about 43.2 million, out of the 68.1 million population aged at least 15 years old this year, from 2015’s 63.7%, or 41.3 million, out of a 64.9 million population of such age group.
Annualized rates for 2015, however, did not include data from Leyte in Eastern Visayas or Region VIII.
The same preliminary estimates bared a 94.5% annual employment rate for 2016 equivalent to some 40.8 million with jobs, compared to 2015’s 93.7% that consisted of 38.7 million such individuals.
The estimates also put 2016 unemployment rate at 5.5% from 2015’s 6.3%, with the ranks of jobless individuals thinning slightly to 2.4 million from 2.6 million.
But underemployment rate — reflecting those employed but who wanted more hours of work or an additional job to meet their needs — steadied at 18.3% from 2015’s 18.5%, with estimated numbers of such individuals actually edging up to 7.5 million from 7.2 million such persons.
Sectoral distribution slightly changed, though services still continued to contribute bulk of jobs, accounting for more than half of total employed individuals at 55.6% this year from 2015’s 54.7%. Workers in agriculture made up the second-largest employed segment at 26.9%, lower than last year’s 29.1%, while industry increased its share to 17.5% from 16.2%.
Wage and salary workers accounted for 61.7% of total employed persons, among whom those who worked in private establishments made up 48.2%; workers in government and government-controlled corpora- tions, 8.1%; workers in private households, 5.1%; and paid workers in own family-operated farms or businesses, 0.3%.
The self- employed without any paid employee were estimated at 26.9%, while unpaid family workers accounted for 8.0%.