Fewer jobless Pinoys noted in September

There were fewer Filipinos without jobs in September just but optimism over the availability of jobs in the next 12 months dropped, the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.

The Sept. 23-27 survey found joblessness at 18.9 percent, or an estimated 8.7 million Filipino adults who were without jobs, from June’s 22.2 percent or equivalent to 10.5 million adults.

However, the adult labor force participation rate declined in the third quarter to 73.1 (an estimated 46.1 million adults) from 74.7 percent (47.1 million adults) in June.

The latest joblessness rate is lowest since the recorded 18.4 percent in September 2016.

The nationwide joblessness rate in September comprise of 10.4 percent (4.8 million adults) who voluntarily left their old jobs from 12.1 percent in June; 6.6 percent (3.1 million adults) who were retrenched, from 6.1 percent in June; 1.9 percent (860,000 adults) first-time job seekers, from 3.9 percent in June.

The survey was conducted using interviews of 1,500 adults nationwide and had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points. It was first published in BusinessWorld.

In the survey, 45 percent are optimistic that more jobs would be available in the next 12 months while 18 percent said there would be fewer jobs. Twenty-seven percent said there would be no change, resulting in a net optimism score (percent of more jobs minus percent of fewer jobs) of “high” +28 downgraded from “very high” +31 (46 percent optimistic, 15 percent pessimistic) in June.

SWS considers a net optimism score of +30 and above “very high”; +20 to +29 “high”; +10 to +19 “fair”; +1 to +9 “mediocre”; -9 to zero “low”; and -10 and down “very low.”

The definition of SWS joblessness covers respondents aged 18 and over who are without jobs at present and are looking for work. This excludes those not looking for a job such as housewives, students and retired or disabled persons.

The government uses the term unemployment in the Labor Force Survey (LFS) to refer to persons 15 years and over and who are not working, looking for work and available for work. It includes those currently available but are not seeking work for reasons such as waiting for results of previous job applications, temporary illness, bad weather or waiting for rehire.

Unemployment rate in October was estimated at 5.0 percent, according to the latest LFS. —INQUIRER RESEARCH