Adult joblessness in PH decreases to 19%
Pedestrians, many of them wearing face masks, cross Kamuning Road in Quezon City in this photo taken in September 2022. (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines — Adult joblessness in the Philippines decreased to 19% in March this year from the 21.3% recorded in December 2022, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed on Wednesday.
According to SWS, 19 percent of the labor force, or 8.7 million adult Filipinos, were jobless as of March. This figure is 2.3 percentage points — or 900,000 — below the 21.3% — or 9.6 million — figure reported in December last year.
The survey was conducted from March 26 to 29 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide — 300 each in Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Based on the results, the Labor Force Participation Rate, or a portion of employed adults, is 62.4 percent or 45.9 million.
Adult joblessness was highest in Balance Luzon at 21.7 percent; followed by Mindanao (19.0 percent), Metro Manila (17.5 percent), and the Visayas (13.5 percent).
Meanwhile, the survey also showed that 9.8 percent of Filipino families, or an estimated 2.7 million, experienced involuntary hunger or being hungry and not having anything to eat at least once in the past three months.
SOCIAL WEATHER REPORT | Joblessness at 19.0%, still incomplete recovery to pre-pandemic levels | https://t.co/HV7p6esio4 pic.twitter.com/R32cZrEcHP
— SWS (@SocialWeatherPH) May 24, 2023
“Involuntary hunger was 13.7% (consisting of 13.0% moderate hunger and 0.6% severe hunger) among families of the jobless, compared to 11.3% (consisting of 9.5% moderate hunger and 1.7% severe hunger) among families of respondents with a job/livelihood,” the SWS survey said.
In the same period, joblessness remained higher among female adults at 30.2 percent compared to men at 11.6 percent.
The unemployment rate is also the highest among ages 18 to 24 at 36 percent; followed by ages 25 to 34 at 23.8 percent; 45 and above (15.9 percent); and 35 to 44 (11.7 percent).
