By: John Dexter Tilo
The unemployment rate in September was at 8.9%, the highest-recorded monthly increase this year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) in its preliminary results of the September 2021 Labor Force Survey.
In a media conference, PSA Undersecretary Dennis Mapa revealed that the number of unemployed Filipinos is at 4.25 million, higher by approximately 370,000 individuals than the 3.88 million unemployed in August.
Agriculture and forestry recorded the highest drop of employment by sector, tallying around 862,000 job losses in the industry in September, according to PSA, mainly attributed to the end of the harvest season and bad weather conditions.
"Basically, ang nakikita namin ay ‘yung end ng harvest season. Ito yung report sa aming field officers at ‘yung bad weather conditions," said Mapa.
(Basically, what we see is the end of the harvest season. This is the report to our field officers, as well as bad weather conditions.)
The manufacturing sector recorded the second-highest increase in unemployment, reporting a 343,000 drop in employment, before being followed by the information and communication sector with a 126,000 decrease in employment.
"May substantial increase in unemployment between August and September that contributed to the increase in unemployment in manufacturing dito sa wearing apparel sector. Also, yung bakery products and manufacturing firms producing carpets and rugs. Ito yung nakikita namin na may substantial contribution dito sa manufacturing."
(There is a substantial increase in unemployment between August and September that contributed to the increase in unemployment in manufacturing here in the wearing apparel sector. Also, bakery products and manufacturing firms produce carpets and rugs. This is what we see that has a substantial contribution in manufacturing.)
For the IT sector, the subsectors of wired telecommunication activities, as well as data processing, hosting, and related activities contributed to the drop in employment.
"Pero again, dahil hindi ganun kalaki ang ating sample kailangan maging cautious tayo sa pag-interpret pero ito yung datos na nakikita namin galing sa September Labor Force Survey."
(But again, because of our smaller sample we need to be cautious on how to interpret it but this is the data that we see from the September Labor Force Survey.)
According to Mapa, while quarantine restrictions eased during September, there are still other "contributory factors" aside from COVID-19 curbs, such as the weather, that could hike the unemployment rate.
"May mga ibang underlying factors aside from the stricter restrictions," he said.
(There are other underlying factors aside from stricter restrictions.)
The underemployment rate, on the other hand, dropped to 14.2% or equivalent to 6.18 million underemployed Filipinos. This is lower than August's 14.7% or 6.48 million underemployed citizens.
Meanwhile, the employment rate across the country also sank 91.1% in September, with 43.59 million Filipinos reporting they had jobs. This is a decrease, however, to 91.9% or 44.23 million employed individuals in August.
The services sector had the highest share of employed Filipinos with 57.8% or 25.18 million.
The wholesale and retail trade, on the other hand, had the highest increase in employment with 353,000 more Filipinos getting jobs to bring in an overall 9.86 million people employed under the sector.
While Mapa said that there are other "underlying factors" to the rise of unemployment, the pandemic and related restrictions still affected employed Filipinos who were unable to report to work.
According to the survey, 28.1% of Filipinos in September said the pandemic and related restrictions caused them to miss work. Another 22.7% said this is because the nature of their work, while personal reasons came in third with 10.7%.
About 1.5% of workers in the Philippines said they had a job but were unable to report to work due to various reasons. Some 34.9% said they worked less than 40 hours a week, while 63.6% said they rendered 40 and more hours of labor.
