MANILA, MAY 25, 2011 (STAR) By Helen Flores - The number of unemployed Filipinos rose by 1.4 million to 11.3 million in March from 9.9 million in November last year, according to the latest survey by polling firm Social Weather Stations (SWS).
This is a 3.7 percentage point increase to the unemployment rate of 27.2 percent in March from 23.5 percent in the previous quarter. On a year-on-year comparison, the unemployment rate rose a tenth of a percentage point in March from 27.1 percent in March 2010. SWS conducted face-to-face interviews on 1,200 representative adults aged 18 years old and above from March 4 to 7.
The latest National Statistics Office's Labor Force Survey showed that the country's unemployment rate rose to 7.4 percent (2.9 million) in January from 7.3 percent (2.8 million) in the same period last year.
SWS said unemployment has been high since May 2005. It fell below 20 percent only three times—the last time was in September 2010 when the rate was 18.9 percent.
The two surveys conducted by SWS showed that adult unemployment was primarily composed of those who quit their jobs or were retrenched.
Nine percent of the present unemployment rate were composed of people who had lost their jobs while 10 percent had voluntarily left work. Seven percent were first-time jobseekers.
Of the nine percent who lost their jobs, seven percent did not get their contracts renewed, one percent belonged to companies that stopped operating, and one percent were laid off.
SWS defines unemployed persons as those who are "not working and at the same time looking for work."
Since 2005, the official definition of unemployment has been persons who are disposed to work and are actively looking for employment.
Not included in the definition are persons available for work but are not actively seeking jobs for reasons such as tiredness/belief no job is available, awaiting results of an application, temporary illness/disability, bad weather and waiting for rehire/recall.
The SWS survey, published in the newspaper BusinessWorld yesterday, has sampling error margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national and plus or minus six percentage points for area percentages.
More towns to benefit US anti-poverty program By Jun Pasaylo Home Updated May 24, 2011 10:51 AM
(School children from this far-flung village of Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur benefit the first tranche of the MCC program. (DSWD)
MANILA, Philippines – The United States government today announced that 103 more municipalities will be chosen to receive funding grants under its Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) program in the Philippines.
The US embassy in Manila said more than 300 towns from 26 provinces across the country will be included in the selection process for a chance to be included as new beneficiaries of the MCC program. Currently, there are 82 municipalities that have been chosen as community-beneficiaries.
The funding will be allocated for community-level infrastructure and social services projects that will benefit millions of Filipinos in the countryside.
MCC and the Philippines entered into a $434 million poverty reduction compact in September 2010.
The grant includes $120 million to fund the expansion of the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan – Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS or KC) program, a community-driven development program aimed at empowering communities to identify and implement development projects to reduce poverty.
The US government said a total of 314 municipalities with high incidence of poverty had been identified as eligible to compete for the additional batch of beneficiaries. The 103 new beneficiary municipalities, to be determined by drawing of lots, will receive grants from MCC to implement their anti-poverty projects.
From May 23 to June 30, Washington-based HGM Management Technologies and its Philippine counterpart, the Associated Resource and Management Development Inc., will assist the Department of the Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in conducting information campaigns in eligible provinces and municipalities.
Eligible municipalities have been grouped in clusters that will attend one-day conference in the following areas – Kalibo, Guimaras, Dumaguete, Tacloban, Calapan, Naga, Masbate, Puerto Princesa, Bangued, Pagadian, Surigao, and Davao.
Along with congressmen, governors, DSWD officials, and representatives of MCC, MCA-Philippines, and the World Bank, an auditor will witness the drawing of lots to ensure transparency and fairness.
For more information on the MCC Compact, please visit the MCA-Philippines website at https://www.mcap.ph.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
