2.8M Filipinos unemployed in July: statistics

MANILA -- About 2.8 million Filipinos were unemployed in July this year, almost the same level during the same period of last year, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said on Tuesday.

July 2012 Labor Force Survey showed that the number of unemployed Filipinos was equivalent to 7 percent unemployment rate from 7.1 percent a year ago.

"NCR (national Capital Region) posted the highest unemployment rate at 9.9 percent while Cagayan Valley posted the lowest at 3.2 percent. Among the unemployed persons, there were more males (62.1%) than females (37.9%). Majority (51.2%) of the unemployed persons belong to age group 15-24 years," NSO Administrator Carmelita Ericta said.

Meanwhile, the number of underemployed Filipinos significantly increased to 8.55 million in July 2012 from 7 million last year.

Underemployed are those who express the desire to have additional hours of work on their present job, or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.

"The number of underemployed persons in July 2012 was estimated at 8.5 million placing the underemployment rate at 22.7 percent. The underemployment rate in July 2011 was estimated at 19.1 percent," Ericta said.

A large percentage of the underemployed were working in the services sector (42.5%) and agriculture sector (41.5%). The underemployed in the industry sector accounted for 16.0 percent.

On the other hand, 37.6 million Filipinos were employed, which translated to an employment rate of 93 percent.

Of the estimated 37.6 million employed persons in July 2012, those who worked in the services sector comprised the largest proportion, which posted more than half or 53.3 percent of the estimated employed persons. Among the persons who worked in the services sector, those engaged in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles comprised the highest percentage (18.6% of total employed).

The employed persons engaged in agriculture sector appeared to be the second largest group, which accounted for 30.9 percent of the total employed. About 16.0 percent of the total employed was consisted of workers in the industry sector, with the manufacturing (8.5% of the total employed) and construction (6.1% of the total employed) sub-sectors having the highest proportions.

Among the major occupation groups, laborers and unskilled workers contributed the largest group indicating 33.2 percent of the total employed persons in July 2012. Farmers, forestry workers and fishermen came next with a share of 13.7 percent of the total employed. (SDR/Sunnex)