Adult joblessness rises to 23.2% – SWS

MANILA, Philippines – A full 23.2% of an estimated 10.2 million Filipinos aged 18 and over do not have a job based on the latest employment survey released by polling firm Social Weather Stations (SWS).

The private and non-profit research institute’s second quarter 2015 survey dated September 8, was fielded over June 5-8, 2015. Results were released on September 10.

The latest joblessness finding is 4.1 percentage points above the 19.1% (equivalent to an estimated 9 million adults) of March 2015, and 2.2 percentage points below the 25.4% four-quarter average of 2014.

Joblessness has been above 20% since November 2010, reaching as high as 34.4% in March 2012, save for March 2015 when it fell to 19.1%.

It is important to note that SWS data on joblessness refer solely to the population of adults in the labor force.

This is because respondents in the standard SWS surveys are those at least 18 years old, while the official lower boundary of the labor force has always been 15 years of age.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released its own unemployment figures on September 9, showing unemployment to be down to 6.5% in July of 2015 from the 6.7% recorded a year before. (READ: Unemployment rate down to 6.5% in July)

 

 

Joblessness by type

The June 2015 adult joblessness rate consisted of 11% (estimated 4.7 million adults) who voluntarily left their old jobs; 10% (estimated 4.4 million adults) who were retrenched or involuntarily lost their jobs; and 3% (estimated 1.3 million adults) who were first-time job seekers.

The number of those who resigned or left their old jobs voluntarily rose by 4 percentage points from 7% in March to 11% in June.

Those who were retrenched rose by 2 percentage points, from 8% in March to 10% in June.

The 10% who were retrenched consisted of 6% whose previous contracts were not renewed; 2% whose employers closed operations; and 2% who were laid off.

The number of first-time job seekers, however, went down from 4% in March to 3% in June.

 

Joblessness by sex and age groups

Compared to the March survey, adult joblessness among women rose by 3.7 percentage points from 27.6% in March 2015 to 31.3% in June 2015.

Among men, adult joblessness rose by 4.7 percentage points, from 12.2% in March to 16.9% in June.

Adult joblessness also rose in all age groups from the March survey compared to June:

• 5 percentage points among 18-24 (youth), from 50% to 55%
• 1 percentage point among 25-34 years old, from 28% to 29%
• 4 percentage points among 35-44 years old, from 16% to 20%
• 3 percentage points among 45 years old and above, from 8% to 11%

The survey also found that 36% of adults surveyed say the number of available jobs in the next 12 months will increase, 33% say it will not change, and 19% say it will decrease.

The proportion of those who say there will be no change in job availability rose from 31% in March to 33% in June.

This brought the net optimism on job availability score down by 3 percentage points from an SWS classification of “high” of +20 in March to a “fair” +17 in June.

Net optimism is calculated by the percentage of those who think there will be more jobs minus those who said there will be fewer jobs.

The June 2015 SWS was conducted using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide with 300 each in Metro Manila, and balance of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

It used sampling error margins of 3% for national percentages, and 6% each for Metro Manila, the rest of Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

The area estimates were weighted by National Statistics Office medium-population projections for 2015 to obtain the national estimates. – Chris Schnabel/Rappler.com