The Philippine labor market boomed to a new high as the rate of employment increased in October 2016, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). The Philippine Statistics Authority’s Labor Force Survey (LFS) for October 2016 showed that employment rate rose to 95.3 percent to reach 41.7 million Filipinos employed. This rate is highest among the results in all of the previous October rounds of the LFS since 2006.
“This means that the growth of our economy is becoming more inclusive as it engages more and more Filipinos to participate in the labor market,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia.
The services sector remained the top employment contributor with a share of 54.9 percent or 22.9 million of the total employed. The industry sector, meanwhile, accounted for 17.2 percent or 7.2 million of the total employed in October 2016, driven largely by strong growth in manufacturing and construction.
Likewise, unemployment rate in the country dropped further to 4.7 percent, the lowest rate recorded in the past decade.
“With the decrease of unemployment in October 2016, our implied full-year unemployment rate will be 5.5 percent, exceeding the government target for 2016 of 6.5 to 6.7 percent,” he added.
Moreover, the unemployment rate among the youth continued to decline in October 2016 at 11.6 percent, also a record low for all October rounds of the LFS since 2006. Likewise, the share of inactive youth—those who are neither studying nor employed—has consistently been declining in the past four years and has dropped to 20.5 percent in October 2016.
“While this shows progress, it is important to note that the unemployment rate of the youth is still more than twice the national unemployment rate and thrice the unemployment rate of 25 to 54 age group. This shows that we need to equip our youth with the right skills and experience to be able to compete with seasoned workers,” said Pernia.
On the other hand, underemployment increased to 18.0 percent in October 2016, making the full-year 2016 underemployment rate of around 18.4 percent. Underemployment was prevalent among those working in private households and those employed in family business. NEDA
LATEST STORIES
Japan makes inaugural deployment of coastguard vessel to Australia
The Japan Coast Guard (JCG) will for the first time deploy a vessel to Australia, as part of efforts to strengthen counter-piracy measures in Southeast Asia. The vessel, the 3,300-tonne Souya-class … [Read More...]
Navy admiral’s visit reaffirms strong US-PH alliance
MANILA -- The visit of US Chief-of-Navy Operations, Admiral John Richardson, to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) headquarters in Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City gave both the Philippines and the … [Read More...]
ADAS 2018 OBSERVATIONS AND HIGHLIGHTS
I was able to attend the 2018 Asian Defense and Security (ADAS) at the World Trade Center (WTC) in Manila recently, and every time the event is held (every two years) it always seem to get bigger and … [Read More...]
US reiterates offer to sell F-16 jets to PH: Lorenzana
MANILA -- The US government reiterated its offer to supply the Philippines with the Lockheed Martin F-16. The offer took place during Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Delfin … [Read More...]
Philippine Air Force’s New C-130 SABIR Kit Includes an ELTA Radar
The kit incorporates, among other systems, an electro-optical imager and a variant of ELTA Systems' EL/M-2022 synthetic aperture radar The 300th Air Intelligence and Security Wing (AISW) of the … [Read More...]
PHL, China to hold joint military exercises in Zhanjiang
The Philippines will hold joint military exercises with China during the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)-China military exercise to be held in Zhanjiang, China on October 22 to 29, the … [Read More...]