Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 1) — Fewer Filipinos were jobless in the first quarter of 2017 compared to 2016, but Filipino optimism on job prospects went down as well, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealed.
In the First Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey released in Businessworld on Labor Day, SWS said adult joblesness was recorded at 22.9 percent, with an estimated 10.4 million jobless Filipinos in the first quarter of 2017.
This is an improvement on the jobs market from the December 2016 poll, which registered 25.1 percent or 11.2 million adult Filipinos as unemployed.
Of the 22.9 percent considered jobless, 11.2 or almost half left their jobs voluntarily. On the other hand, 8.6 percent lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control, while the remaining 3.1 percent were first time job seekers who had not yet found employers.
Last December 2016, 12.2 percent counted themselves among those who voluntarily left their jobs, 8.7 percent were jobless due to economic circumstances beyond their control, and 4.3 percent were first-time job seekers.
The survey pegged the labor force participation rate at 72.2 or 45.5 million adults– almost the same as December’s 72.1 percent.
SWS defines “joblessness” as those who do not have jobs but are actively searching for one. The group emphasized their definition differs from the government’s concept of “unemployment,” and thus, cannot be accurately compared with it.
Optimism lower but still high
But despite the slight improvement in joblessness, optimism among Filipinos regarding job opportunities in the next twelve months slipped down to 44 percent from 48 percent in December 2016.
The survey also revealed 15 percent of Filipinos believe there will be fewer jobs in the next year compared to the 12 percent who believed this last December.
The percentage of those who said there would be no change in job availability, on the other hand, remained relatively steady at 27 percent compared to 28 percent last year.
This logs net optimism with regard to job availability at +29– still ” high” despite being down eight points down from the +37 recorded in December 2016.
In a statement released Monday, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the decrease in joblessness affirms the measures the Duterte administration has been taking to sustain and make the country’s “robust economic growth” inclusive.
“The government increased investments in infrastructure will usher in the Golden Age of Infrastructure through our Build-Build-Build campaign, which is expected to employ millions of Filipinos in the next five years and spur economic activities by stimulating countryside development,” he said.
SWS conducted face to face interviews with 1,200 adults for the survey. It was conducted in March 25-28 and has sampling error margin of ±3 points.
