Number of jobless Filipinos increased instead of declined

The militant labor group Partido Manggagawa (PM) clarified that the number of Filipinos without jobs actually rose instead of declined if the latest labor force survey data is examined further.

“If we dig deeper into the jobs numbers, we find that there are more Filipinos without gainful employment in September compared to the previous month in contrast to the declaration of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA),” asserted Rene Magtubo, PM national chair and Marikina city councilor.

He added that “The officially unemployed in September is only 1.96 million, lower than the 2.03 million unemployed in August. But 572,000 Filipinos—classified as either employed or unemployed in August—left the labor force by September. If we add these to the 1.96 million officially unemployed then we arrive at 2.53 million Filipinos without jobs in September.”

Magtubo stated that there is a very strict definition of who is officially unemployed. “If you worked even for just one hour in the previous week then you are already employed. Conversely, even if you are without a job but are not actively looking for work—including if you have gotten tired and/or believe that there is no work available anyway—then you are categorized as not unemployed but instead are outside of the labor force. Either way, the unemployment rate becomes very low due to this very narrow definition,” he said.

“In truth, so many kababayans are without gainful work. Since the private sector cannot offer these kababayans with gainful employment, the government should step in through a jobs guarantee program. Preferably these alternative jobs should be green, decent and long-term instead of the current TUPAD model of emergency work that is mostly sweeping streets,” Magtubo elaborated.

Labor coalition worried over increasing dropout rate of women in the labor force

The women committee of Nagkaisa labor coalition is calling on the government to roll out a public employment program particularly designed to address the rising number of workers who are dropping out of the labor force, majority of them women.

 

“Women participation in the labor force has been chronically low and has even declined over the last few years, but this pandemic is forcing more women out of the labor force,” stated Nagkaisa women committee head Judy Miranda, citing the analysis made by economist JC Punongbayan.

 

In his article published in Rappler, Punongbayan explained that despite the unemployment rate dropping to 8.7% or 3.8 million from the highs of 10% in July and 17.7% in April, a significant number of employed persons – a whopping 2.23 million workers – also dropped out of the labor force from July to October when labor force participation rate fell to 58.7%. Employed persons in October are less by 1.47 million in October than in July.

 

Inactive members of the labor force are no longer included in the official count of unemployed Filipinos in a particular period. Majority of those who are not in the labor force from July to October are women, with 1.313 million or 153,000 higher than men (1.160 million). 

 

Nagkasia said the government’s recovery program, specifically on employment, must look into this feminization of the jobs crisis so that it can formulate appropriate measures in addressing this gender gap in employment.

 

“Not only is the pandemic forcing more women out of the labor force. Women’s unpaid work is also multiplied once economic activities in the formal sector of the services and the care economy are domesticated and made less visible,” said Miranda, who is also Secretary-General of Partido Manggagawa.

 

She added that still, unemployed women never run out of work as unpaid domestic labor simply replaces their lost hours of employment. A viable public employment program, including paid trainings, must be visible and accessible to women to avoid more dropouts in the labor force amid the lingering pandemic.

 

Nagkaisa is pushing for a public employment program as a strategy for economic recovery and sustainable development. Included in Nagkaisa’s Unemployment Support and Wage Assistance Guarantee (USWAG) proposal is the provision of wage subsidy for the micro and small enterprises, public employment for the unemployed, including paid trainings, and expansion in the public sector sector to take on social tasks such as upgrading the public health system, developing renewable energy and carrying out mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change (climate jobs).

NAGKAISA Labor Coalition

Women Committee

9 December 2020