Unemployment steady at 5.1% in Oct.

The country’s unemployment remained steady in October while underemployment fell to its lowest in over a decade, indicating the improvement of the quality of work nationwide, the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) said.

According to the PSA’s Labor Force Survey, unemployment was at 5.1 percent while underemployment was at 13.3 in October, representing 41.3 million employed, 2.2 million unemployed and 5.5 million underemployed in October.

“This signals that the quality of work is improving even outside the National Capital Region (NCR). We attribute this to expanding employment opportunities and the approval of nominal increases in regional wages supported by labor productivity improvements,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said.

Underemployment rate in areas outside Metro Manila significantly declined to 14.6 percent in October 2018 from 17.0 percent in 2017, also the lowest in over a decade.

Also, the percentage of discouraged job seekers decreased to 11.5 percent, which is better than the 12.0 percent target for 2018.

However, of the total youth population, 19.9 percent is neither in employment nor in education in 2018, but still falling within the target of 19.5-21.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for October 2018 slightly inched up to 5.1 percent compared to last year. Still, the 5.3 percent unemployment rate for 2018 is at the upper end of the 2018 target range of 4.7 to 5.3 percent.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that the government is on track with respect to four out of seven employment targets specified in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022.

“To meet our targets, we need to fast-track strategic efforts to achieve all of our end-of-plan targets towards full and inclusive employment. There is a need to improve social protection programs for workers while providing flexibility for firms to adjust to changing market conditions. This should be complemented with the provision of unemployment insurance to support the income of displaced workers who will be negatively affected by economic disruptions,” Pernia said.

The LFS recorded around 826,000 employment generated in 2018, falling behind the government’s annual target of 900,000 to 1.1 million employment.

On meeting this target, Pernia urged the simplification of issuing business permits and licenses, and even reduction of fees.

In terms of gender, only 46.6 percent of women were recorded to be in the labor force for 2018, which is below the 49.7 percent target set for the period.