Adult Joblessness for the Third Quarter in the Philippines

The Third Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey, done on September 23-27,
2017, found adult joblessness at 18.9% (est. 8.7 million adults). This is 3.3 points
below the 22.2% (est. 10.5 million adults) in June 2017, and is the lowest recorded
joblessness rate since the 18.4% in September 2016. The September 2017 adult
joblessness rate consisted of those who voluntarily left their old jobs at 10.4% (est.
4.8 million adults), those who involuntarily lost their jobs at 6.6% (est. 3.1 million
adults), and first-time job seekers, at 1.9% (est. 860,000 adults). SWS’s adult
joblessness data refers to adults in the labor force. Those with a job at present, plus
those without a job at present and looking for a job, are part of the labor force. The
September 2017 survey found the adult labor force participation rate at 73.1%, or
an estimated 46.1 million adults. This is a 1.6% decrease from the 74.7% (est. 47.1
million adults) labor force participation rate in June 2017.

The survey was conducted by Social Weather Stations and it was not
commissioned. This survey was conducted on SWS’s own initiative and released
as a public service. The SWS data refers 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. The sampling design used by SWS was stratified sampling
highlighting different regions of the country. 1,500 adults were selected
nationwide, 600 in balance Luzon, and 300 hundred each in Metro Manila, the
Visayas and Mindanao.

The survey was conducted using face to face interviews of the

abovementioned sample. I believe this is the best way to achieve the results of the
survey since there were more than one answer to be communicated to the
surveyors. Moreover, the survey questions should be communicated well so that
the results will represent the true purpose of the survey.

The survey found the adult response rate at 73.1%, or an estimated 46.1
million adults. This is a 1.6% decrease from 74.7% or an estimated 47.1 million
labor force response rate in June 2017. In my opinion, the non-responses would
still affect the final result since it still a significant percentile of the sample. The
percentage of unemployment would either decrease or increase depending on the
status of those who are included in the sample.

As mentioned above, the respondents were distributed based on 4 specific areas,

Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao and Metro Manila. Data on joblessness consists of
those who voluntarily left their old jobs, those who lost their jobs due to economic
circumstances beyond their control, termed as retrenched and those seeking jobs
for the first time. The proportion of those who resigned or left their old jobs
voluntarily fell by 1.8 points, from 12.1% in June 2017 to 10.4% in September
2017. Those who were retrenched rose by 0.5 points, from 6.1% in June to 6.6% in
September. The 6.6% who were retrenched consisted of 4.1% whose previous
contracts were not renewed, 1.7% who were laid off, and 0.9% whose employers
closed operations. The proportion of first-time job seekers fell by 2.1 points, from
3.9% in June to 1.9% in September. The distribution of the sample would have
been better if a larger portion of the sample was allocated to Metro Manila and
Luzon. This is because there are more employers and businesses found in this area
compared to Visayas and Mindanao. We all know for a fact that Metro Manila is
the business center of our country, thus, a more relevant and reliable result would
have been achieved if more number of respondents came from this geographic
area.