MANILA, January 11 ------ More Filipino workers found jobs in November as the country's unemployment and underemployment rates fell, the Philippine Statistics Authority said. The PSA said the unemployment rate fell to 3.2 percent of the labor force in November from 3.9 percent in October. This meant that the number of jobless workers fell to 1.66 million in November from 1.97 million in October.
Underemployment also fell to 10.8 percent of the labor force from 12.6 percent. This meant that 5.35 million workers were considered unemployed, down from 6.08 million in October. The PSA defines underemployment as workers who already have jobs but are looking for extra jobs or job hours. A high underemployment rate is usually seen as an indicator that the jobs available are of low quality. But PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said there was an increase in quality jobs this year. “Ang isa sigurong magandang balita doon sa buwan ng Nobyembre 2024, year-on-year, tumaas yung ating number of employed workers na naka-classify as wage and salary workers, kasi yun naman talaga yung parang proxy natin doon sa yung good quality jobs,” he said in a press briefing.
Mapa noted that there were 1.11 million more wage and salary employees in November than in the same month in 2023. He said the sub-industries that showed the biggest drop in underemployment were transportation and storage (144,000); other personal service activities, and domestic services (47,000). He added that there was an 80,000 decline in underemployment in retail sales.
The PSA said that there were 51.2 million Filipinos in the labor force in November.
Broken down by industry, the following sectors added the most jobs on a yearly basis:
-Manufacturing (784,000);
-Accommodation and food service activities (528,000);
-Human health and social work activities (303,000);
-Other service activities (239,000);
-Transportation and storage (190,000)
Meanwhile, the agriculture and forestry (1.99 million), whole sale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (327,000), and fishing and aquaculture (276,000) industries posted the highest job losses year-on-year. Mapa said storms that hit the Philippines in November continued to batter the agriculture sector. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said government will continue to prioritize quality jobs and better income for all Filipinos. “The next step is to expand business and employment opportunities to enable more Filipinos to actively and productively contribute to the economy,” said Secretary Arsenio Balisacan. “Moreover, we will encourage business upgrading and skills training programs to ensure that these jobs offer competitive wages, as our workers raise their productivity by developing their human capital," he said. "The government needs to facilitate the adoption of alternative work arrangements to account for workers' evolving preferences while considering organizations' emerging demands,” he added.
Source: news.abs-cbn.com
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