Philippines’ August joblessness eases

Unemployment in the Philippines eased to 4% in August as more female workers got hired in the service sector, the local statistics agency said on Tuesday.

Preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) labor force survey showed the jobless rate fell from 4.7% in July and 4.4% in August last year.

This translated 2.07 million unemployed Filipinos, down by 305,000 from July and by 149,000 from a year earlier.

“A major factor that we saw in August 2024 is that many women participated in the labor force and many of them were absorbed by our labor market,” PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a news briefing in mixed English and Filipino.

About 1.03 million female workers joined the labor force, most of whom worked for more than 40 hours a week, he added.

National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said Filipinos “are in for a potentially better holiday season as the latest labor survey showed promising labor market results.”

He said fast-tracking key infrastructure projects in energy, logistics and physical and digital connectivity is critical to attracting investments in higher-value-added sectors, such as manufacturing and agribusiness, and boosting labor productivity.

“With the government’s continued focus on attracting strategic investments and the timely passage of key reforms, the Philippines is well-positioned to translate its promising macroeconomic fundamentals into long-term prosperity for its workforce and economy,” he added.

The labor force participation rate among female Filipino workers rose to 54.7% from 52.4% in July and 52.9% in August last year. For male workers, the rate dipped to 74.8% from 76.3% a year ago. It was 74.5% in July.

The employment rate in August rose to 96% from 95.3% in July and 95.6% a year ago, equivalent to 49.15 million employed Filipinos.

The employment rate for women rose to 95.3% from 94.8% in July and 95.1% a year earlier. The rate among male workers also rose to 96.5% from 95.6% in July and 96% in August last year.

INCREASED DIGITALIZATION
The entry of contractual workers due to digitalization resulted in more women being hired in August, said Leonardo A. Lanzona, Jr., an economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University.

“In general, women are concerned with other factors that are not related to compensation,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “Greater engagement in digital labor platforms allowed them to find extra income without leaving home and their children.”

He said more female workers being hired is not seasonal, but a result of growing digitalization and more flexible working hours, often at the expense of lower pay.

“These jobs offer very little protection and tend to be very unstable,” Mr. Lanzona said. “ In reality, people do not prefer these types of jobs but are forced to accept them in the absence of better options.”

“Improving working conditions can only be achieved if more options in the domestic labor markets are available,” he added.

Benjamin B. Velasco, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines School of Labor and Industrial Relations in Diliman, said the lower unemployment and underemployment rates and higher female labor participation are “welcome news.”

“We just need to be aware of two things,” he told BusinessWorld via Messenger chat. “First, the fine print — employed means working for at least one hour in the past week, and second, these positive figures are only episodic or temporary changes.”

He also noted that the female labor force participation rate was higher in June at 55.8% and March at 55.1%. “So definitely, it’s not a long-term trend,” he added, noting that the rate rises and falls slightly, but the long term is at 50%.

“Meaning, half of working-age women do not work and are outside the labor force.”

Job quality slightly improved in August as the underemployment rate dipped to 11.2% from 12.1% in July and 11.7% a year earlier.

This meant 5.48 million Filipinos with jobs were still looking for more work or longer working hours, compared with 5.78 million underemployed workers in July and 5.63 million a year earlier.

“The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECoP) has emphasized that while declining unemployment rates are positive, there is a continued need to focus on creating high-quality jobs, especially for sectors like retail and wholesale, which significantly contributed to employment gains,” ECoP Governor Arturo C. Guerrero III told BusinessWorld in a Viber message.

“ECoP also advocates enhancing workers’ skills to meet industry demands, ensuring sustained job growth and economic resilience,” he added.

“Let’s hope that more jobs will open for our countrymen due to the continued decrease in the inflation rate, which will strengthen the income of our businesses and every family,” Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said in a statement in mixed English and Filipino.

“The latest monetary policy easing due to the deceleration of inflation will also encourage further growth in consumption and investment that translates to more quality employment for Filipinos. More and better jobs will allow Filipino families to spend more, boosting our economy,” he added.

Mr. Mapa said they expect employment figures to improve further this quarter, as corporate earnings and the economy get boosted by increased consumption.

“The expectation is that people spend more since they will have more money from their 13th month pay,” Mr. Velasco said. “These are seasonal or episodic bumps but unfortunately do not signify a long-term shift in employment.”

“The structure of the economy has not changed so we can’t expect also a qualitative change in employment,” he added.

Federation of Free Workers President Jose Sonny G. Matula in a Viber message said increasing wages is crucial since Filipinos are likely to spend their extra money locally, effectively boosting the economy.

The average Filipino worker worked 40.7 hours a week in August, a slight decline from 41.1% in July and 40.8 hours a year earlier.

The service sector remained the top employer with an employment rate of 63.3%, followed by agriculture at 19.3% and industry at 17.4%.

Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino National President Renecio “Luke” S. Espiritu said precarious working conditions and the absence of security of tenure affect women the most.

“They are the ones left to attend to the household as unpaid reproductive labor, often resorting to unstable sideline jobs or attending to small family retail businesses to cope with rising prices and to add to their partner’s starvation wages,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat. – Chloe Mari A. Hufana, Reporter