From the Website of GPH - Government of the Philippines
links: http://www.gov.ph/2014/09/10/neda-strong-employment-figures-in-july-2014-support-inclusive-growth-targets/
Strong gains in the country’s employment
in July 2014 show continued signs of dynamism in the labor market and
sustained confidence in the economy, according to the National Economic
and Development Authority (NEDA).
The July 2014 Labor Force Survey (LFS)
revealed that the figures for employment, unemployment,
underemployment, and the labor force participation rate all improved
during the period.
The number of employed Filipinos grew by
2.8 percent in July 2014 to 38.5 million from 37.4 million in the same
period last year. This means 1.06 million jobs were generated from July
2013 to July 2014.
“Employment generation during the period
was broad-based, led by services and industry,” said Socioeconomic
Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan.
Moreover, unemployment rate in July 2014
improved, registering a 0.6 percentage points decline to 6.7 percent
from the 7.3 percent in July 2013.
Likewise, underemployment, which is the
proportion of those who are already working but still wanted more work,
went down to 18.3 percent in July 2014 from 19.2 percent in the same
period last year.
Labor force participation rate (LFPR)
also increased to 64.4 percent in July 2014 compared to 63.9 percent a
year ago. Therefore, the labor market absorbed 879 thousand labor
entrants, expanding the labor force to 41.23 million.
“To some extent, the growth in the LFPR
reflects the more positive outlook of workers in line with the momentum
created by the robust economic growth in recent years, along with the
expectations of better employment,” said Balisacan, who is also NEDA
Director-General.
“Employment expanded in each class of
worker as majority of labor found remunerative work. However, in
services and agriculture, which account for the bulk of the country’s
labor force, the employment generated was mostly in part-time work. This
dampened overall mean hours of work,” said Balisacan.
But he noted that the calculation in the
July 2014 round of the LFS still excludes data from the province of
Leyte as no survey was conducted in the area due to destruction and
labor displacement caused by Typhoon Yolanda. To be comparable, the
Philippine Statistics Authority also excluded the labor and employment
data of the said province in the July 2013 LFS round.
“The government should continue
fostering an economic climate conducive to business and investment to
sustain the labor market gains that were achieved in the recent quarters
of this year,” the Cabinet official said
“In industry, the key objective should
be to increase investment, especially in labor-intensive sectors, and to
encourage the existing pool of employers to hire more workers. In the
immediate term, the demand for labor can be driven by the infrastructure
program of government, reconstruction activities in the Visayas and
other disaster-hit areas, and private construction. In services, the
focus must be on increasing sales and clients enough to warrant the
hiring of workers. There is much room for expansion in business-process
management and tourism-related activities,” Balisacan added.
In agriculture, Balisacan said the
problem has to do with the quality of employment which is both seasonal
and low-paying. He said this can be addressed by introducing nonfarm
employment opportunities during the off-season, e.g., value-adding
activities, community-based employment program, etc.
“To further support the labor market
performance in the medium term, the government should remain vigilant to
attendant risks to growth and make sure that pre-emptive measures and
programs are in place to mitigate any adverse effects of such risks or
shocks in the economy,” he concluded.
GPH Website
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS PROMOTIONS WEBSITES
PROTECTION AND PROMOTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------- |
0 comments:
Post a Comment