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MANILA, Philippines鈥擳o pave the way for real economic recovery, the government should shake off its complacency in resolving the jobs crisis and help Filipinos without work, small businesses and the production industry.

This was stressed by the Ibon Foundation on Thursday (April 7) as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released the results of the February 2022 Labor Force Survey, saying that the economy is still finding it hard to generate enough work.

READ: PSA: February 2022 unemployment rate at 6.4%, over 3 million Filipinos jobless

The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR)鈥攖he employed and people who are still actively seeking employment鈥攚as 63.8 percent or 48.61 million, higher than January鈥檚 60.5 percent.

There was likewise a rise in employed individuals鈥攆rom 43.02 million in January to 45.48 million in February. The 93.6 percent employment rate was higher than the 91.2 percent over the same period last year.

The PSA said that on a month-on-month basis, changes in employed individuals from January to February, the highest increases were seen from these:

• Agriculture and forestry (1.44 million)
• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (1.07 million)
• Accommodation and food service activities (145,000)
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (116,000)
• Human health and social work activities (108,000)

However, while the unemployment rate was still 6.4 percent in February, it translated to 3.13 million jobless Filipinos or 200,000 more compared to January鈥檚 2.93 million.

The PSA said there was a decline in underemployment rate鈥攆rom 14.9 percent in January to 14 percent in February. This translated to 6.38 million people who are already employed but still looking for longer hours of work.

Not a good sign

While it was 鈥渘ot catastrophic,鈥� Ibon Foundation said it鈥檚 鈥渘ot a good sign鈥� that the unemployment rate was 6.4 percent even though COVID-19 restrictions were already eased in February.

It stressed that this indicated that the economy鈥檚 ability to create enough work has not even recovered to how it was when the Philippines was not yet hit by the COVID-19.

The January 2020 PSA data revealed that out of the 73 million people who were 15 years and older then, 94.7 percent were employed while 5.3 percent were jobless.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua said it was in February when Metro Manila eased its restrictions as the spread of Omicron, a variant of SARS-CoV-2, was contained and the vaccination program was intensified.

He said Alert Level 2 has let more Filipinos find jobs again, stressing that the government intended to place the entire Philippines on Alert Level 1 to enable more Filipinos to find work.

Last April 1, 79 percent of the economy was already placed on Alert Level 1, but the National Economic Development Authority (Neda) said there鈥檚 still an urgent need to resume face-to-face classes.

For Chua, the conduct of physical classes will let one-fourth of parents, who stay at home to help their children in online classes, go to work, saying that this will be critical, especially now that the Philippines is experiencing inflation because of Vladimir Putin鈥檚 barbaric attempt to conquer Ukraine.

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The PSA said inflation rose to a six-month high in March as it accelerated to 4 percent from 3 percent in February. However, it was slightly slower than the 4.1 percent in March 2021.

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Not yet eased

Neda said the 63.8 percent LFPR led to a net employment creation of 2.5 million over the same period in 2021. However, Ibon Foundation said this did not mean that the jobs crisis has already eased.

The think tank said the jobs being created were more in part-time, self-employment and informal work than regular and formal work in private establishments.

This, Ibon Foundation said, indicated that millions of employed Filipinos are only trying to get by with whatever they can do to make a living, stressing that the employment created was mostly 鈥渢emporary, insecure and informal鈥�.

As the results of the February 2022 Labor Force Survey revealed, employed persons worked on an average of 40.8 hours in a week in February. While this was higher than the 38.9 hours over the same period in 2021, it was lower than January鈥檚 41.8 hours.

Ibon Foundation said 15 million people worked less than 40 hours in a week in February and that nearly eight of 10鈥攐r 78 percent鈥攐f the employment created since January 2022 were part-time work.

This, as full-time workers grew only by 457,000 and those 鈥渨ith a job, not at work鈥� by 82,000.

The think tank stressed that employment in private establishments fell by 608,000 to 21.6 million between January and February this year.

It observed that the rise in employment largely came from these 鈥渋rregular work鈥濃�攕elf-employment (1.8 million) and own family-operated farms or businesses (1 million)

Ibon Foundation likewise said that Filipinos are crowded in irregular and insecure work in agriculture and wholesale and retail trade because, for instance, the manufacturing sector is not creating enough work:

• Administrative and support service activities (negative 263,000)
• Manufacturing (negative 235,000)
• Financial and insurance activities (negative 57,000)
• Arts, entertainment and recreation (negative 48,000)
• Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (negative 44,000)

In February 2022, employment in agriculture grew by 1.5 million to 10.9 million and in wholesale and retail trade by 1.1 million to 10.1 million. Those employed in manufacturing fell by 235,000 to 3.4 million.

Ibon Foundation stressed that a lot in agriculture were part-time work鈥�7.2 million鈥攐r 67 percent鈥攐f those employed in agriculture were part-time workers in February.

• Agriculture

Part-time workers: 7.2 million
Full-time workers: 3.5 million
With a job, not at work: 102,000

• Industry

Part-time workers: 1.5 million
Full-time workers: 6.5 million
With a job, not at work: 89,000

• Services

Part-time workers: 6.2 million
Full-time workers: 20.2 million
With a job, not at work: 105,000

Ibon Foundation said the government should not take the rise in employment at face value, stressing that the economy and people鈥檚 livelihoods are clearly not normalizing: 鈥淭hey remain in crisis and crisis measures are needed as ever.鈥�

鈥淭he government needs to immediately distribute substantial cash and employment assistance to vulnerable Filipinos and provide subsidies to small businesses and production sectors,鈥� it said.

鈥淭his will not only help poor households cope with the jobs crisis but will contribute to jumpstarting the economy towards recovery,鈥� the think tank said.

TSB