Agriculture, manufacturing, info and communication sector report biggest drop in employment
(Eagle News) — The Philippines recorded its highest unemployment rate since January this year at 8.9 percent this September when the country was recording between 12,000 to more than 26,000 new COVID-19 cases per day.
The 8.9 percent unemployment rate came about after the number of unemployed in the Philippines increased from 3.88 million in August 2021 to 4.25 million in the succeeding month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“Employment rate in September 2021 dropped to 91.1 percent from the 91.9 percent reported in August 2021” which meant a reduction of some 642,000 employed individuals, it said.
From the 44.23 million total employed in August 2021, this went down to to 43.59 million total number employed in the month of September 2021.
Most of the employed person, at 63.6 percent, worked for 40 hours and more, while “34.9 percent worked for less than 40 hours” in September. The PSA said that those who had jobs but were not at work were around 1.5 percent in the same month.
The country, in September, was experiencing a surge in COVID cases which led to stricter quarantine protocols and even lockdowns. From September 16 to 30, Metro Manila was also placed under General Community Quarantine but under COVID-19 alert level 4 pilot implementation. Granular lockdowns were also implemented.
“The average weekly hours worked by an employed person in September 2021 was reported at 40.2 hours per week. This was higher than the average weekly hours worked reported in August 2021 at 39.6 hours,” the PSA said.
“Underemployment rate was estimated at 14.2 percent this September 2021 accounting for 6.18 million underemployed persons out of 43.59 million employed persons,” it said.
The PSA said that this was “the second lowest reported this year following the 12.3 percent underemployment rate in May 2021.” The same underemployment rate of 14.2 percent was reported in June 2021.
The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in September 2021 also slightly dropped to 63.3 percent from 63.6 percent in August 2021. This drop in LFPR is equivalent to a about 269,000 Filipinos 15 years old and over who were either employed or unemployed, the PSA said.
-Subsectors with biggest drop in employed persons-
The top five subsectors with the biggest drop in the number of employed persons from August to September 2021 are the following:
a. Agriculture and forestry (-862 thousand);
b. Manufacturing (-343 thousand);
c. Information and communication (-126 thousand);
d. Mining and Quarrying (-75 thousand); and
e. Real estate activities (-69 thousand)
-Subsectors with biggest rise in employment-
On the other hand, the top five subsectors that showed biggest increase in employment from August to September 2021 (on a month-on-month change in the number of employed persons) were the following:
a. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (353 thousand);
b. Public administration and defense; compulsory social
security (118 thousand);
c. Education (115 thousand);
d. Construction (105 thousand); and
e. Administrative and support service activities (89 thousand)
The PSA said that “employment rate was higher among men at 91.7 percent than among women at 90.3 percent.”
“Underemployment rate among men (15.9%) was also higher than among women (11.7%),” it added.
(Eagle News Service)