Jobless adult Filipinos fell to 8.7M in March ’23. – SWS

DSG | MANILA (via PNA) – Jobless adult Filipinos fell to 8.7M in March ’23. | According to the findings of a survey that was carried out all throughout the country by Social Weather Stations (SWS), the number of unemployed adult Filipinos has decreased to 8.7 million as of March of this year, down from 9.6 million at the end of December 2022.

The most recent estimate for the unemployment rate came from a study that was carried out by the SWS between March 26 and March 29 of 2023, and it put the figure at 19 percent.

This is a 7 point drop from the 26 percent that was recorded in April of last year and a 2.3 point drop from the 21.3 percent that was reported in December of last year.

The most recent statistic, however, is 1.5 points higher than the 17.5% rate that was reported at the end of December 2019 or before to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic. The SWS has stated that the return to pre-pandemic levels is “still incomplete.”

According to SWS, the nation’s adult unemployment rate is on a general downward trend, having reached a disastrous level of 45.5 percent in July 2020, and has even decreased to as low as 18.6 percent in October 2022. This is a decline from the level of 45.5 percent in July 2020.

According to the pollster, the term “adult joblessness” refers to people who are looking for work for the first time, people who have deliberately left their previous positions, as well as people who have lost their jobs due to economic conditions that were beyond their control.

In addition, the study conducted in March 2023 discovered that the Labour Force Participation Rate, commonly known as the proportion of adults participating in the labour force who are employed, is at 62.4 percent, with approximately 45.9 million people holding jobs.

The unemployment rate fell from 24.8 percent to 17.5 percent in Metro Manila in the first quarter of this year; it fell from 23.1 percent to 21.7 percent in Balance Luzon; and it fell from 18.6 percent to 13.5 percent in Visayas.

According to the results of the poll, however, it barely changed from 18.1 percent to 19 percent in Mindanao.

People without jobs often go hungry.

The most recent poll also discovered that 9.8 percent of Filipino households, which is equivalent to an estimated 2.7 million people, have experienced involuntary hunger, which is defined as the state of being hungry while having nothing to eat, at least once within the most recent three months.

In families where at least one member does not have a job, the rate of involuntary hunger is 13.7 percent, consisting of 13.0 percent moderate hunger and 0.6 percent severe hunger. This is compared to the 11.3 percent rate, which includes 9.5 percent moderate hunger and 1.7 percent severe hunger in families where at least one family member has a job or other source of livelihood.

The unemployment rate for women is 30.2%, which is significantly greater than the unemployment rate for men, which is 11.6%.

Regarding age, the youngest age group, 18 to 24 years old, had the greatest joblessness rate of 36 percent, followed by those who belonged to the group of 25-34 years old, with a rate of 23.8 percent; those who were 45 years old or older had a rate of 15.9 percent; and those who were 35 to 44 years old had a rate of 11.7 percent.

It is reported that the rate of adult joblessness is highest for graduates of junior high school, coming in at 23.3 percent.

Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data for the First Quarter 2023 Social Weather Survey from a total of 1,200 adults in the United States who were 18 years old or older.

The sampling error margins for national percentages are 2.8 percent, while the error margins are 5.7 percent for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao respectively.