An estimated 8.7 million adult Filipinos claimed joblessness in the first quarter of the year, down from 9.6 million in December 2022, despite the recovery from the pandemic still being “incomplete,” the March 26 to 29 survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.
The first quarter survey, which involved 1,200 adult respondents and had a margin of error of ±2.8 percent, showed that 19 percent (estimated 8.7 million) of the adult labor force claimed to be unemployed in March which is 2.3 percentage points below the 21.3 percent (estimated 9.6 million) in December 2022 and 7 percentage points down from 26 percent in April 2022.
SWS said the jobless consists of those who voluntarily left their old jobs, are seeking jobs for the first time, or have lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control. The labor force is defined as adults or those aged 18 years old and above who are presently with a job.
The polling firm found that joblessness fell in all areas except in Mindanao, with the highest in Luzon at 21.7 percent (down from 23.1 percent), followed by Mindanao at 19 percent (up from 18.6 percent), Metro Manila at 17.5 percent (down from 24.8 percent) and the Visayas at 13.5 percent (down from 18.6 percent).
It was also higher in urban areas at 21.6 percent (almost unchanged from 21.3 percent) than in rural areas at 14.6 percent (down from 212 percent).
SWS said joblessness is also higher among women (30.2 percent, statistically unchanged from 29.7 percent) than among men (11.6 percent, down from 15.2 percent).
Joblessness was also highest among the 18- to 24-year-old age brackets (36 percent, down from 46.7 percent), followed by the 25- to 34-year-old group (23.8 percent, down from 25.1 percent), 45 years old and above (15.9 percent, up from 12.7 percent) and the 35- to 44-year-olds (11.7 percent, down from 20.6 percent).
It was also highest among the junior high school graduates at 23.3 percent (from 22.6 percent), followed by elementary graduates at 17.8 percent (from 19.9 percent), non-elementary graduates at 11.6 percent (from 15.9 percent) and college graduates at 10.5 percent (from 22.9 percent).
