October jobless rate eases but Filipinos still looking for more work due to inflation

Despite the proportion of Filipinos either unemployed or out of business continued to drop in October, the catch is that jobs being generated are low quality and do not pay enough amid the skyrocketing cost of living.

The Philippine Statistics Authority reported Wednesday, that there were 2.60 million jobless Filipinos in October, translating to an unemployment rate of 4.5%. This is based on a nationwide survey of 43,641 households it conducted recently.

The latest survey, compared to the 2.60 million unemployed persons, or 5.2% rate, recorded in July is lower which had a comparable sample size to the October survey.

According to Nicholas Mapa, senior economist at ING Bank “The gains are tied to the reopening of the economy, mirroring the strong GDP growth to close out the year,” Nicholas Mapa,

However, Mapa said there were “troubling” figures from the latest jobs report. For one, the actual number of employed Filipinos fell to 47.11 million in October, from 47.39 million in the month of July.

Mapa explained that the drop in unemployment figures was also aided by a decrease in the number of Filipinos who actively searched for jobs during the month.

He added that the Survey results showed there were 49.35 million Filipinos aged 15 and above who were part of the labor force in October, down from 49.99 million in July.

Meanwhile, more people looked for additional working hours ostensibly to further increase their daily income amid the boiling inflation. State statisticians reported that the number of underemployed Filipinos rose to 6.67 million in October which is up by 130,000 compared to the July figure.

Mr. Leonardo Lanzona, a labor economist at Ateneo De Manila University said that the latest labor statistics show the impact of inflation on the local jobs market.

“The issue is that workers seem to be dropping out of the labor force. It seems that jobs have become less plentiful in the main sectors of the economy like agriculture and retail trade, sectors that can have bearing in light of the recent inflation,” Lanzona said.