The country’s unemployment rate is expected to inch up next year despite the improving jobs numbers after the pandemic.
According to the Department of Budget and Management’s (DBM) Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing for fiscal year 2025, the country’s unemployment rate is projected to range between 4.8 percent and 5.1 percent next year.
This is higher than the 4.4 to 4.7 percent estimate for 2024.
In 2023, the jobless rate was 4.6 percent, while as of May this year, it is averaging at four percent, even going as low as 3.5 percent in February.
In a press briefing at the DBM office in Manila yesterday, DBM principal economist Joselito Basilio said aside from base effects, the other reason for this higher projection for the unemployment rate, which he attributed to the explanation of the National Economic and Development Authority, would be the expected increase in graduates entering the labor force and seeking for jobs next year.
“If you recall, in the years 2020 and 2021, many people didn’t finish their schooling (due to restrictions brought by the pandemic). But many returned to school (thereafter) and more graduated during the years 2021 to 2022,” Basilio said.
“You would expect that three or four years after that, more people will enter the labor force. So that could mean 2025, 2026 or even as early as late 2024,” he added.
As more people enter the labor force, not all applicants could be expected to easily find jobs or immediately be absorbed into the work force.
The latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s unemployment rate inched up in May while underemployment showed improved figures for the month.
The unemployment rate edged up to 4.1 percent in May from four percent in April. It however improved from the 4.3 percent recorded a year ago.
In nominal terms, the unemployed persons in May 2024 was estimated at 2.11 million.
This was lower than the number of unemployed persons in May 2023 at 2.17 million, but higher than the 2.04 million recorded in April 2024.
The underemployment rate meanwhile fell to its lowest level since 2005, as it improved to 9.9 percent in May 2024 from 11.7 percent in May 2023 and 14.6 percent in April 2024.
Meanwhile in the same briefing on the 2025 budget, budget secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the confidential and intelligence funds (CIFs) in the proposed 2025 national budget declined as compared to its allocation in the 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Pangandaman said the DBM approved a total of P10.29 billion budget for CIFs, P4.37 billion of which has been allocated for confidential expenses and P5.92 billion for intelligence expenses.
In the 2024 GAA, the CIF was given around P12.38 billion allocation.
“The allocation for confidential and intelligence funds in the 2025 National Expenditure Program (NEP) decreased by 16 percent compared to its allocation in the 2024 GAA,” Pangandaman said.
The budget chief noted that the DBM received a total CIF budget proposal of P11.39 billion from various agencies, P5.22 billion of which is for the confidential funds and P6.17 billion for the intelligence funds.
Pangandaman underscored that agencies are required to follow the guidelines on the use of the CIFs.
