The country’s jobless rate dropped slightly in October this year from year-ago level, necessitating sustained efforts to translate the rapid expansion of the economy into more jobs and reduced poverty.
The National Statistics Office On Tuesday reported that the unemployment rate in October stood at 6.5 percent, down from 6.8 percent in the same month last year. There were some 2.62 million jobless Filipinos out of the country’s total labor force of about 40.33 million during the month.
“There is a need to sustain efforts that facilitate the substantial creation of decent and quality employment,” Economic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.
The minimal drop in the unemployment rate was accounted for mainly by jobs created in the services sector, which more than offset job loss in the agriculture sector.
Balisacan, who is also director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), said the government was keen on investing more in agriculture, manufacturing, and disaster resiliency measures to help accelerate the pace of job creation in the next few years.
The NSO also reported that the rate of underemployment improved to 17.9 percent during the month from 19 percent in the same period last year.
This was a welcome development, according to the Neda, as this indicated that the quality of existing jobs was improving.
Underemployed people are those who have jobs but who desire additional work hours for various reasons, including insufficiency of income earned from their existing jobs.
The government acknowledges that the economic growth of the Philippines, which has become the fastest in Asia, remained non-inclusive.
This means growth, which was recorded at an average of 7.4 percent in the first three quarters of this year, was due mainly to rising incomes of the rich and the middle class, while most of the poor remained poor.
The Neda, however, said the government was coming up with new strategies to achieve “inclusive” growth and to significantly reduce poverty in the next few years.
Poverty rate in the Philippines stood at 25.2 percent last year, slightly lower than the 26.3 percent three years ago. The poverty incidence in the country is one of the highest in Asia.
The administration will focus more on the manufacturing, tourism and agriculture sectors in the remaining three years of its term. These sectors are believed to have the capability to employ more people from the low-income segment and, therefore, the ones capable of reducing unemployment and poverty levels the fastest.
The government is finalizing the updated Philippine Development Plan, which will provide details of the strategies for sustainable economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction over the next three years.
Rosemarie Edillon, assistant director general of the Neda, said in a briefing the other day that under the updated PDP, the government would identify the varying needs of the country’s different regions to increase employment and trim the number of poor people.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer - December 11, 2013