AMID the increase in the country’s labor force, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it would address the uptick in the unemployment rate through programs strengthening “youth employability”.
Last week, the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) said the number of jobless Filipinos increased to 2.38 million in July as young individuals, who graduated from college or senior high school and entered the labor force, did not land jobs during the period. This translates to an unemployment rate of 4.7%, higher than the 3.1% joblessness rate in June.
“The preliminary results of the July 2024 Labor Force Survey (LFS) affirmed the viability of the government’s joint initiatives with its partners as it maintains an encouraging trajectory for our labor market,” said Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Monday, September 9.
“This year we see an increase of 3.229 million economically active Filipinos with the labor force growing from 46.845 million in July 2023 to 50.074 million in July 2024,” he said.
According to Laguesma, the country’s employment rate increased year-on-year with 47.70 million Filipinos employed in wholesale and retail trade, agriculture, accommodation and food services, construction, and public administration.
“The LFS showed that the number of unemployed increased by 86,000 from 2.289 million in July 2023 to 2.375 million in July 2024. This can be attributed to the surge of new entrants in the labor market due to the graduation season as new graduates begin seeking employment,” the DOLE chief said.
“DOLE will address this by enhancing our youth employability programs,” Laguesma added.
He further said the agency would continue to implement programs to enhance workers’ welfare and reiterated support for the implementation of the Enterprise-Based Education and Training Bill and the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act Plan.
Citing the July 2024 LFS, the PSA said the number of employed persons in July decreased to 47.7 million from 50.28 million in June, translating to an employment rate of 95.3% down from 96.9% month-on-month.
The underemployment rate, meanwhile, stood at 12.1%, translating to 5.78 million of the 47.70 million employed individuals who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work. (GMA Integrated News)
