Net employment created in 2011 now at 857,000
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that the quality of employment continued to improve this year, based on the National Statistics Office (NSO) report on the July 2011 Labor Force Survey.
According to the NSO, the number of employed persons in July 2011 was estimated at 37.1 million, or 2.4 percent higher than the 36.2 million employment generated in July 2010. Employment generation for the period reached 870,000, which is higher than the 729,000 net employment in July 2010.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cayetano W. Paderanga, Jr. noted the continuous improvement in the quality of employment as the number of workers with wages and salaries increased by 7.9 percent to 20.9 million in July 2011.
“Filipino workers who are employed in the more remunerative and stable work comprise 56.3 percent of the total workers in July 2011 from only 53.4 percent a year ago,” said Paderanga, who is also NEDA Director-General.
The NEDA official also said that those categorized as self-employed without paid employee, employer in own family-operated farm or business and unpaid family workers decreased by 1.7 percent, 6.2 percent, and 8.8 percent, respectively, in July 2011 compared with July 2010.
“This employment performance in terms of class of workers implies that, in general, the quality of employment in the country has improved during the period,” said Paderanga.
The NSO also reported that in terms of working hours, the number of full-time workers, which comprised 64.9 percent of total employment, grew strongly by 697,000 or by 3.0 percent during the said period. The number of the part-time workers likewise decreased from 34.7 percent in July 2010 to 34.1 percent in July 2011.
“Incomes may have also increased considering the increase in the size of paid workers, full time employment, and the mean hours worked,” added Paderanga.
The Secretary said that the average net employment creation for the months of January, April and July 2011 now reached 857,000.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate slightly went up to 7.1 percent in July 2011 from 7.0 percent in the same period last year due to more labor entrants recorded this year, with the labor force increasing by 2.5 percent, compared to the 1.3 percent growth in July 2010. The underemployment rate, or the proportion of those who are already working but still wanted more work, also went up to 19.1 percent, or around 7.1 million employed persons, possibly due to the higher uncertainties caused by the surges in world oil prices, the triple disasters in Japan, the slow recovery of the U.S. and Eurozone, and the social unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which increased the pressure to look for more work.
The NEDA chief said that the higher unemployment and underemployment rates indicate that policy interventions of the government must focus not only in the creation of more employment, but also in generating more decent, productive, and quality employment.
“In this period of slowing global economy and slowing external demand for Filipino goods and services, quality employment should be able to provide adequate income. Aside from keeping our workers and their families out of poverty, this will also boost household consumption, and domestic demand in general,” said Paderanga.
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