SURVEY
MANILA, FEBRUARY 25, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Helen
Flores - Some 9.7 million Filipinos lost their jobs in the last three months,
the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed.
The SWS poll, conducted from Dec. 3 to 7, showed that the country's
unemployment rate grew from 20.2 percent to 24 percent, representing an
estimated 9.7 million Filipinos.
The SWS used face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults and had sampling error
margins of plus or minus three percentage points for national and plus or minus
six points for area percentages.
Out of the 24 percent unemployed, 10 percent were retrenched, nine percent
resigned and five percent were first-time jobseekers, SWS said.
The majority, or seven percent of those retrenched, did not have their
contracts renewed, two percent were employees of companies that closed shop and
the remaining one percent were terminated.
The findings of the SWS December 2011 poll were published in the newspaper
BusinessWorld yesterday.
SWS said unemployment was slightly higher among women and the younger members
of the labor force.
Unemployment dropped to 15.2 percent from 17 percent among men while it rose
to 35.6 percent from 25.6 percent among women.
Unemployment also rose to 49.1 percent from 46.3 percent among those between
18 to 24 years old.
It was basically unchanged at 29.9 percent from 29.7 percent among those aged
25-34.
There was likewise an increase in unemployment to 18.7 percent from 13.7
percent for those between 35 to 44 years old, and to 17.3 percent from 13.8
percent for those aged 44 and above.
The results of the SWS poll differed from that of the National Statistics
Office (NSO) which reported a 6.4 percent unemployment rate in October last
year.
The unemployment rate in the latest government survey is equivalent to an
estimated 2.644 million Filipinos. It was down from 7.1 percent in 2010.
The NSO said unemployment dropped below 20 percent in three out of 26 surveys
from May 2005 to December 2011. The figure hit a record high 34.2 percent in
February 2009.
'Develop firm-specific skills'
Sen. Francis Escudero urged the government yesterday to focus on the
development of firm-specific skills to improve employability and address the
rising unemployment rate.
Escudero said figures from the Commission on Higher Education and the
Department of Labor and Employment showed that aside from at least 564,000
unemployed college graduates, more than 700,000 new graduates would enter the
labor market.
He said the figures confirm that more educated Filipinos find it difficult to
find local employment.
"Of course, the conventional recourse is to look for jobs abroad even if the
opportunities there are thinning," he said.
Escudero added that addressing unemployment has become more urgent because
overseas Filipino workers are losing their jobs amid the instability in the
Middle East and the economic problems confronting the United States and Europe.
"Add to this the number of discouraged workers or those who stopped looking
for work believing that there is no more available vacancy, as well as unpaid
family workers. Government must implement a spending program to stimulate
employment in response to this," he said. With Christina
Mendez
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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