Results of the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS), released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), showed an estimated 2.97 million Filipinos were without work, up from 2.78 million a year earlier.

January’s 7.5% unemployment rate was higher than the 7.1% recorded a year earlier.

More Filipinos joined the workforce, the PSA said, with those aged 15 and up jumping to 61.78 million from 60.74 million.

This pushed the employment rate down to 92.5% from 92.9%, although in absolute term the number of the employed increased to 36.42 million from 36.14 million.

The January round of the LFS excluded Region 8 or Eastern Visayas, which was battered by super typhoon Yolanda (international name Haiyan) in November. The PSA said it excluded Region 8 data from January 2013 figures to be able to make comparisons between the two rounds.

“The survey showed that total employment grew by 0.8% year-on-year, translating to 283,000 jobs generated, but slower than the labor force growth of 1.2% during the period,” the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in a statement.

Rene E. Ofreneo, a professor at the University of the Philippines’ School of Labor and Industrial Relations, agreed with the NEDA, pointing out that job creation had failed to keep pace with the one million-plus Filipinos who joined the labor force.

The government, in its Philippine Development Plan 2011-2016, targets to create at least one million new jobs each year to be able to achieve 6.8-7.2% unemployment in the medium term.

“Not surprisingly, unemployment increased in both absolute and percentage terms,” Mr. Ofreneo noted. “It is clear that the government is facing a gargantuan task on the job creation front.”

He highlighted a continued dependency on the service sector to create jobs.

“The reality is there are very few industries that can absorb our college graduates because of our stagnant and stagnating industrial sector. Not everybody among the 350,000 or so … annual college graduates can be absorbed by the booming … business process outsourcing sector…,” he said.

The LFS survey showed that the service sector remained the biggest employer, although its hires at 54.1% of total employed was down from 54.4%. Agriculture was the second biggest employer with 30%, followed by industry, 15.9%.

Wage workers comprised 57.5% of the employed, falling from 60.7%, while the self-employed without paid employees rose to 28.5% from 26.6%, and workers working without pay in family-owned farms and businesses, to 10.6% from 9.2%.

By region, unemployment was highest in the National Capital Region at 11.2%.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan surmised that the earthquake and typhoon Yolanda, which hit the Visayas in the fourth quarter of last year, may have created refugees who sought employment in other areas of the country.

Source: https://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Unemployment-rises&id=84610