By Pierce Oel A. Montalvo
Unemployment in the country rose to the highest level in two months in October, hampered by the onslaught of typhoons that month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.
Preliminary data from the PSA’s Labor Force Survey (LFS) shows that the unemployment rate stood at 3.9% in October, up from the previous month’s rate of 3.7% but down from 4.2% a year past.
This translated to 1.97 million unemployed Filipinos in October, higher than the 1.89 million in the previous month but lower than the estimate of 2.09 million for October last year.
The unemployment rate averaged 4% at the end of October, compared to 4.6% in the same period last year.
The quality of employment also deteriorated as the unemployment rate reached 12.6% in October, up from 11.9% last month and 11.7% a year ago.
The unemployment rate averaged 12.1% in the ten months to October, down from 12.5% in January to October 2023.
Meanwhile, the labor force participation rate fell to 96.1% in October, down from 96.3% in September but up from 95.8% in the same period a year ago.
This equated to 48.16 million working Filipinos, down 1.71 million from 49.87 million in September, but up 369,000 from 47.79 million in October 2023.
The services sector remained the largest employer in October with an employment rate of 61%, followed by agriculture (21.2%) and industry (17.9%).
The average Filipino worker worked 41 hours per week, up from 40.3 hours in September but down from the average 41.2 hours in October 2023.
Three consecutive typhoons affected employment rates in October, said Claire Dennis S. Mapa, PSA deputy secretary and national statistician.
“It started during the first few days of October. Julian, and then there were Kristine and Leon. So yes, the typhoons have in a way contributed to the way our countrymen participated in the labor market,” Mr. Mapa said at a news briefing in mixed English and Filipino.
Agricultural damage caused by Typhoon Krathon (Julian) was estimated at €607.38 million, a Department of Agriculture (DA) bulletin issued on October 7 showed.
Similarly, the combined effects of Tropical Storm Trami (Kristine) and Super Typhoon Kong-rey (Leon) cost P7.83 billion in damage to agriculture, according to data from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.
“The wave of typhoons that brought death and destruction of homes, livelihoods, agriculture and infrastructure began and unleashed its fury during the said period,” said Julius H. Cainglet, vice president of the Federation of Free Workers, in a statement Viber message.
“Right now they are uncontrollable super typhoons, but in a few months we can expect the other extreme: heat stress from too much heat as temperatures rise.”
Despite annual improvement in employment figures, adverse weather conditions have led to job losses not only in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors, but also in many service and manufacturing industries, said Cid L. Terosa, senior economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific. via email.
The fisheries and aquaculture subsector lost the most workers in October, with a loss of 213,000 workers year-on-year.
It was followed by wholesale and retail trade (down 212,000); agriculture and forestry (decrease by 183,000) and manufacturing (decrease by 123,000).
“Contract workers in the trade and manufacturing industries had to be laid off due to work disruptions caused by adverse weather conditions,” Mr Terosa said.
“Typhoons have the most direct impact on agriculture. But as not all manufacturing activities are insulated from the impacts of climate change, employment in this sector will certainly suffer quickly,” said Mr Cainglet.
Both unemployment and underemployment have worsened at a time when the economy should pick up ahead of the Christmas season, said Sentro ng mga Nagkakaisa of Progresibong Manggagawa Secretary General Josua T. Mata.
Mr Mata said wage earners fell from 63.9% to 63.8%, while the number of self-employed grew from 27.4% to 27.7%.
“High-quality manufacturing jobs continue to shrink. Jobs are also disappearing in agriculture and fishing, probably due to the devastating consequences of extreme weather.”
Mr Terosa also said many were settling for jobs that would help them cope with the loss of regular, good-quality jobs, which would increase the employment gap.
Seasonal employment around the consumption of Christmas-related products and services will contribute to a small increase in employment, Mr Cainglet said.
“The coming election season could also provide temporary employment. The bigger impact on employment will most likely occur in the second quarter of 2025,” Mr Cainglet said.
In addition, Mr Terosa said December employment data was likely to show modest improvement, especially on the underemployment issue.
“The surge in business and commercial activity will most likely require additional part-time workers,” Mr Terosa said.