EMPLOYMENT rate in Negros Island Region (NIR) has slightly dropped during the first month of the year, an official of the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said on Monday, June 12.
Lawyer Jason Balais, assistant regional director of Dole-NIR, said based on the result of the Labor Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the region’s employment rate as of January 2017 was 94.7 percent, comprising almost 1.99 million workers.
The figure is lower than 96 percent during the previous survey, which was conducted in October last year.
“Many projects and employment contracts have ended in December 2016 while the survey was conducted only in January this year, this would result to a drop in the number of employed individuals in the region,” he pointed out.
Balais, however, said the region’s employment rate is still higher than the national rate of 94 percent.
“It is still a positive indication that many people in the region are employed,” Balais said, adding that the conduct of job fairs has been contributing a lot in terms of generating more employment.
Meanwhile, as the employment decreases, the unemployment rate in Negros increases.
The Dole-NIR noted that from four percent in October last year, it went up to 5.3 percent last January. It is translated to 111,194 unemployed workers in the region.
Comparing the same survey period, the region’s underemployment rate also increased by 2.3 percent. From 9.1 percent, it rose to 11.4 percent comprising almost 240,000 underemployed individuals.
Underemployed persons are those workers who are highly-skilled but working in low paying jobs, workers who are highly-skilled but working in low skill jobs, and part-time workers who would prefer to be full-time.
All in all, the total number of employed, unemployed and underemployed residents in the region is almost 2.34 million. It forms part of almost 4.42 million population of NIR based on 2015 Population Census of the PSA.
The Dole also pointed out that aside from conducting job fairs, the improving confidence of investors towards the Philippines is also a vital factor that could significantly contribute to increasing employment in the country.
Balais said that more investments mean that more number of additional jobs will be generated.
“Given the current stability in terms of leadership in the government, the confidence of investors to put their money in the country has in fact improved thus, we are optimistic to have higher employment rate this year,” he added.