2.3M Filipinos jobless in July

FILIPINOS who were jobless reached 2.335 million in July, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority's (PSA) Labor Force Statistics (LFS) released Friday.

This was equivalent to 5.4 percent unemployment rate, lower than the 6.5 percent registered in July last year.

Among the regions, Calabarzon (7.6 percent), National Capital Region (NCR) (6.5 percent), Central Luzon (6.2 percent), and Northern Mindanao (6.1 percent) were the regions with the highest unemployment rates.

Among the unemployed persons in July, 60.7 percent were males. Of the total unemployed, the age group 15 to 24 years comprised 48.2 percent, while the age group 25 to 34, 28.2 percent. By educational attainment, 21.9 percent of the unemployed were college graduates, 14.4 percent were college undergraduates, and 28.1 percent were high school graduates.

“The unemployment rate in July 2016, the lowest recorded for all July rounds in the past decade, increases the likelihood of achieving the Philippine Development Plan target of 6.5 to 6.7 percent for 2016,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia.

Underemployment rate in the country also dropped further to 5.4 percent from 6.5 percent last year.

On the other hand, the employment rate rose to 94.6 percent to reach 41.0 million employed, Pernia said.

This rate is higher than the results in all of the previous July rounds of the LFS since 2011, he said.

“Our growing economy, which is largely driven by output expansion in the services and industry sectors, has created more and better jobs,” said Pernia, also director general of the National Economic and Development Authority.

The services sector remained the top employment contributor with a share of 55.3 percent of the total employed. The industry sector accounted for 17.8 percent of the total employed in July 2016, driven largely by strong growth in manufacturing and construction. (SDR/Sunnex)