Number of jobless Filipinos way off—Baldoz

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz on Tuesday downplayed the results of a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey which showed that the number of jobless Filipinos rose by more than four million.

Contrary to the survey results, Baldoz said the labor market even “performed better” during the first quarter of 2012 with the number of employed Filipinos increasing by 1.1 million based on the Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the National Statistics Office in January 2012.

She said the March 10-13 SWS survey on employment was “not comparable” to the quarterly LFS which, she pointed out, was “the official reference of the government and the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, International Labor Organization and other Philippine development partners.”

“For 2012, the country’s labor market performed better as the employment level grew by 3 percent with total employed persons increasing to 37.394 million from the 36.293 million in 2011,” Baldoz said.

“The labor participation rate increased to 64.3 percent from 63.7 percent in 2011 as the number of persons in the labor force rose by 2.8 percent to reach 40.316 million,” she added.

Baldoz said that historically SWS survey results on unemployment were higher than the LFS results.

“For one, the methodologies of the two surveys are different. The SWS has a respondent coverage of 1,200, aged 18 years old and above, while the LFS has a respondent coverage of persons 15 years old and above in 51,000 household,” she said.

Baldoz said one indicator of the quality of employment was the employment growth registered in three major sectors.

“The services sector posted a year-on-year growth rate of 3.3 percent, or 19.694 million, from a growth figure of 1.1 percent in 2011, or 19.074 million,” she said.

“The industry employment grew by a robust 4.8 percent, or 5. 515 million, while employment in agriculture expanded by a moderate 1.9 percent, or 12.185 million,” she added.

Baldoz said one positive feature of the labor market in 2012 was that recovery occurred among persons in full-time employment (2.6 percent or 595,000) and wage and salary employment (3.3 percent or 657,000).

“Underemployed persons, according to internationally accepted definition, are those employed persons who want additional hours of work in their present jobs, or to have an additional job, or a new job with longer working hours,” Baldoz said.

“Compared to last year, underemployment declined both in terms of rate from 19.4 percent to 18.8 percent, and magnitude from 7.050 million to 7.030 million. The visible underemployment rate was down to 11.5 percent, or 4.301 million, from 12.2 percent or 4.443 million in 2011,” she added.

Based on the LFS, the country’s official unemployment rate was 7.2 percent, or 2.9 million, “which declined from 7.4 percent in 2011.”

“In absolute terms, however, the total number of unemployed persons was up by 5,000 to reach 2.922 million,” Baldoz said.

“While it is true that unemployment is high among the 15-24 age bracket, the fact was that youth unemployment decreased from 17.2 percent last year to 16.6 percent, or 1.430 million,” she said.

“Among men, [the] unemployment rate remained unchanged at 63.5 percent or 1.855 million, while the rate for women declined to 6.8 percent or 1.067 million from 7.2 percent or 1.089 million in 2011,” she said.