Labor Force Survey Disputes SWS statistics; Brings New Hope to Filipino Job Seekers
“Don’t lose hope,” this seems to be the message that the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) of the National Statistics Office (NSO) wants to convey to current and future job seekers who are starting to lose faith in the country’s job market.
The LFS survey, released last June 15, disputes an earlier survey result released by Social Weather Stations, a private organization that tries to measure public opinion by conducting surveys on certain issues, that states that unemployment rate in the Philippines has reached an alarming 34 percent; a figure that translates to more than 4 million unemployed Filipinos with individuals 18-24 years old the most affected by this development.
In an earlier interview, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz implied that the LFS survey which covered 51, 000 households with members aged 15 years old and above who are high school graduates, college graduates, and college undergraduates who are able to work, is more reliable than SWS’ survey which was only based on 1, 200 voters aged 18 years old and above.
“While it is true that unemployment is high among the 15-24 age bracket, the fact was that youth unemployment decreased from 17.2 percent last year to 16.6 percent, or 1.430 million,” Baldoz said.
This places the country’s overall unemployment rate at 7.2 percent, or 2.9 million, “which declined from 7.4 percent in 2011.”
Furthermore, “The industry employment grew by a robust 4.8 percent, or 5. 515 million, while employment in agriculture expanded by a moderate 1.9 percent, or 12.185 million,” she added.
Sources:
Shahani, Lila Ramos. (2012, July 06). How Unemployed are We Really?. Business World Online. Retrieved from http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Opinion&title=How-unemployed-are-we-really?&id=54796
Tubeza, Philip C. (2012, May 23). Number of Jobless Filipinos Way Off – Baldoz. Inquirer.net. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/198605/number-of-jobless-filipinos-way-off%E2%80%94baldoz
