Number of jobless adults down 18.9 percent

The percentage of jobless adults slid to 18.9 percent or an estimated 8.7 million adults, the lowest recorded rate since the 18.4 percent last 2016, the latest Social Weather Stations Survey results showed.

The recent SWS survey result released Thursday found that around 18.9 percent or around 8.7 million adults in the country are jobless, 3.3 points lower than the 22.2 percent or an estimated 10.5 million adults recorded last June this year.

The result of the survey done on September 23-27, is the lowest recorded joblessness rate since the 18.4 percent in September 2016.

Among the 18.9 percent jobless adults are those who voluntarily left their previous jobs at 10.4 percent (estimated 4.8 million adults), those who involuntarily lost their jobs at 6.6 percent (estimated 3.1million adults), and first-time job seekers, at 1.9 percent (estimated 860,000 adults).

The proportion of those who resigned or left their previous jobs voluntarily slid by 1.8 points from 12.1 percent in June, same among the percentage of the firsttime job seekers that fell by 2.1 points from 3.9 percent on the same month.

Retrenched However, those adults who involuntarily lost their job, or were “retrenched,” rose by 0.5 points from 6.1 percent in June to 6.6 percent in September.

Those who were retrenched consist of 4.1 percent whose previous contracts were not renewed, 1.7 percent were laid off, and 0.9 percent whose employers closed operations.

The research institution said that their adult joblessness data refers to adults in the labor force.

SWS added that those with a job at present, plus those without a job at present and looking for a job, are part of the labor force.

Labor force The September, 2017 survey also found the adult labor force participation rate at 73.1 percent, or an estimated 46.1 million adults, a 1.6 percent decrease from the 74.7 percent (estimated 47.1 million adults) labor force participation rate in June.

In the results, it appears that adult joblessness among women fell by 4.9 points from 31.5 percent in June to 26.5 percent this September, the lowest figure among women since the 26.1 percent on September last year.

Among men, adult joblessness decreased by 1.8 points from the 15.2 percent in June to the 13.5 percent in September, which stays below 20 percent since March 2014.

Optimism on more jobs Meanwhile, optimism that there will be more jobs decreased by one point from 46 percent in June 2017 to 45 percent in September, while pessimism that there will be fewer jobs rose by 3 points from 15 percent in June to 18 percent in September.

This resulted to a downgrade on the Net Optimism on Job Availability score (percent more jobs minus percent fewer jobs) by 3 points from the “very high” +31 in June 2017 to a “high” +28 in September 2017.

The SWS underscored that their quarterly Social Weather Surveys on joblessness are not commissioned, “but are done on SWS’s own initiative and released as a public service.”