The number of jobless Filipinos rose in February versus the previous month as more joined the job market amid the continued reopening of the economy.
Based on the latest labor force survey, the number of unemployed Filipinos went up to 3.13 million in February from 2.93 million in January, Dennis Mapa, national statistician, said in a virtual briefing yesterday.
However, the unemployment rate remains the same at 6.4 percent.
Mapa said more people joined the labor force in February and that the number of Filipinos who participated rose by 2.67 million to 48.61 million from 45.94 million in January.
“Not everyone who participated in the labor force are able find jobs. Of the additional 2.67 million that participated, 200,000 are unemployed that’s why the (unemployment) number went up, although the unemployment rate remained the same,” Mapa said.
In the same month last year, the unemployment rate and figure were much higher at 8.8 percent and 4.19 million, respectively.
In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the increase in the labor force participation rate from 60.5 percent in January to 63.8 percent in February led to a net employment creation of 2.5 million over the same period.
This brings the country’s employment to 2.9 million above the pre-pandemic level, NEDA said, adding increased mobility and easing of restrictions led to significant employment creation for the month.
The quality of jobs also improved as seen in the decline in the underemployment rate from 14.9 percent to 14 percent, NEDA said.
“As we contained the spread of the Omicron variant and ramped up the vaccination program, we were able to revert to alert level 2 in the National Capital Region and other economic centers starting February 2022. This allowed more Filipinos to rejoin the labor force. We aim to shift the entire country to alert level 1 to enable even more Filipinos to find work,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua .
As of April 1 this year, 79 percent of the economy has been placed under Alert Level 1.
However, NEDA reiterated the country cannot reap the full benefits of the shift without resuming face-to-face classes.
“To maximize the shift to Alert Level 1, we reiterate the need for the full and urgent resumption of face-to-face classes. This will allow one-fourth of the parents who stay at home supporting their children during online classes to work. This is crucial in light of the temporary inflationary pressures we are experiencing due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Chua said.
