Philippines' Unemployment rate continuous to Increase

Tuesday, September 12, 2017, the Philippine Statistics Authority showed the results from
the July 2017 Labor Force Survey (LFS) that the unemployment rate of the Philippines has
increased from 5.4 to 5.6% since 2016. It rose compared to last year due to recent typhoons that
affected the agriculture sector, according to the National Economic and Development Authority.
“We mainly observe the employment losses in the agriculture sector, which has been
greatly affected by typhoons Nina and Auring that hit our country last December and January,”
said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia. He also that the agriculture sector
accounted for the second-largest share of employment in the country at 25.5 percent. Leading us
to the fact that the sector has shed an estimated 882,000 workers or two thirds of total
employment losses.
The number of employed Filipinos also declined from 94.3 percent last year to 93.4
percent in January of 2017. It is because of the increase in unemployment of the country.
Unemployment among the youth and adults also increased. Youth unemployment went up to
15.6 percent while the rate for adults jumped to 4.8 percent. According to NEDA, bulk of the
increase in the number of unemployed came from adult workers which saw an increase of
181,000.
Last April 22, 2013, Paul Hudson stated in his article that “unemployment” is an issue, as
many countries are facing a big debt crisis that requires higher tax revenues to prevent a default.
If the country’s government is not financially stable, then the banks and the whole financial
system will experience a decrease in confidence translating to a downturn in the value of the
stock market. To find a solution to this issue, Pernia said that job generation would be enhanced
considering that long pipeline of infrastructure projects President Rodrigo Duterte’s government
had prepared and that scholarships and linkages between vocational and technical schools and
colleges and universities offering TVET programs would go a long way to improve access.
Pernia stated that “Policy and regulatory changes can also adversely affect employment.
Government must continue skills development and retooling programs through continuing
education and training for the affected workers, and adjust policies where warranted,”. Giving us
the hint that being responsible and cooperative at the same time is what the Filipinos need to do
in order to help avoid the worsening the current issue that is present in our country.