More Filipinos jobless in Q3 – SWS survey

MANILA – Over a million more Filipino adults became jobless in September, according to the results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey released on Saturday, November 10.

The Third Quarter 2018 Social Weather Survey, conducted from September 15 to 23, shows that adult joblessness increased to 22% or an estimated 9.8 million adults in September, from 19.7% or an estimated 8.6 million adults in June.

The SWS said adult joblessness includes those who voluntarily left their old jobs, those who lost their jobs, and first-time jobseekers.

The survey results also showed less optimism in job availability in September compared to June.

“Optimism that there will be more jobs fell by 8 points from 47% in June 2018 to 39% in September 2018, while pessimism that there will be fewer jobs rose by 1 point from 15% to 16%,” the SWS said.

Net optimism on job availability was at a “high” +24 in September, 8 points lower and a downgrade from the “very high” +32 in June.

Among geographic areas, adult joblessness was highest in Metro Manila at 26.4% in September, up by 6.9 points from 19.4% in June.

This is followed by Balance Luzon at 22.9% from 19.3%; Mindanao at 19.7% from 21.2%; and Visayas at 19.6% from 19 in June.

The survey results also showed that joblessness continued to be higher among women than among men

“As usual, adult joblessness was higher among women at 32.8% (up by 6.7 points from 26.1% in June 2018), compared to men at 14.3% (down by 1.3 points from 15.6% in June),” the SWS said.

Among age brackets, adult joblessness was highest among those aged 18 to 24 at at 40.1%, followed by those aged 25 to 34 at 25.5%, 35 to 44 at 20.5%; and 45 and above at 16.9%.

The nationwide survey used face-to-face interviews of 1,500 adults: 600 in Balance Luzon, and 300 each in Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao. The sampling error margins are ±3% for national percentages, ±4% for Balance Luzon, and ±6% each for Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao.