SWS survey says jobless rate in PH down to 11.9 million in Q3 2021

MANILA, Philippines — Some 11.9 million people were jobless in the third quarter of this year, according to the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) released Monday.

At 24.8 percent, the latest jobless rate is lower than the 27.6 percent recorded by the same polling firm during the previous three-month term when the country returned to stringent lockdowns amid the resurgence of COVID-19 cases due to the Delta variant of the new coronavirus.

It is also 12.6 points below the 2020 annual average of 37.4 percent, the SWS added.

However, the survey company noted, the current 24.8 percent jobless rate in the country is still five points higher than 2019’s annual average of 19.8 percent.

SWS said the labor force participation rate was at 68 percent, or an estimated 48.2 million, in September while it was 69.1 percent, or an estimated 48.9 million, in June.

SWS defines labor force as adults, 18 years old and above, presently with a job plus those looking for a job as it makes clear that labor force participation rate is the proportion of adults in the labor force.

“Joblessness reached a catastrophic level of 45.5 percent in July 2020. It eased to 39.5 percent in September 2020, 27.3 percent in November 2020, and 25.8 percent in May 2021. It bounced to 27.6 percent in June 2021 before easing to 24.8 percent in September 2021,” it said in its study.

Joblessness falls in all areas except in Visayas

Metro Manila’s jobless rate in the third quarter was the highest at 34 percent. Balance Luzon followed at 27 percent, then the Visayas at 23 percent, and Mindanao at 16 percent.

“The 2.8-point decline in the national joblessness rate between June 2021 to September 2021 was due to decreases of 7.3 points in Metro Manila, 3.4 points in Balance Luzon, and 2.8 points in Mindanao, combined with an increase of 1.4 points in the Visayas,” the SWS explained.

Joblessness in women vs. men

SWS likewise noted that joblessness dropped among women from 38.3 percent in June to 32.3 in September. But it hardly changed among men, slightly decreasing from 19.8 percent in June to 19.3 percent in September.

“This brings the women-men joblessness gap to 13 points, down from 18 points in June 2021,” it said.

Joblessness across adult age groups

Joblessness also fell among the 35-to-44-year-olds from 23.8 percent to 16 percent, as well as among 45-year-olds and above from 22.4 percent to 15.6 percent in the same period.

However, it rose among the 18-to-24-year-olds from 49.3 percent to 51.5 percent and among the 25-to-34-year-olds from 31 percent to 33.9 percent.

“As in past surveys, the joblessness rate remains highest among the 18-24-year-olds among all age groups,” SWS said.

Rural areas vs urban areas

The rate also decreased in rural areas from 25.3 percent in June to 20 percent in September although it hardly changed in urban areas, moving from 30.7 percent in June to 30 percent in September.

“This brings the urban-rural joblessness gap to 10 points. The urban-rural joblessness gap has been double-digit in only 10 out of 111 surveys since September 1993,” SWS pointed out.

Joblessness in non-elementary and elementary grads

Likewise dipping was the jobless rate among non-elementary graduates, which posted 10.1 percent in the third quarter, and elementary graduates, which registered 18.7 percent in the same period.

In the June survey of SWS, joblessness among non-elementary graduates and elementary graduates was at 15.9 percent and 31.5 percent, respectively.

But the rate increased among junior high school graduates from 28.7 percent to 31.1 percent, and among college graduates from 23.8 to 24.8 percent in the latest poll.

The SWS survey on joblessness was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults (18 years old and above) nationwide – 300 hundred families each in Metro Manila, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao – from September 12-16.

It was a non-commissioned survey that had a sampling error margin of ±3 percent for national percentages and ±6 percent for percentages per area.

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