Call centers added more workers but typhoons slashed jobs

MANILA (UPDATE) - The Philippines posted higher unemployment and underemployment rates in October compared to September, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Friday.

Part of the reason for the increase in the jobless rate was the series of typhoons that hit the country in October, said PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa.

The PSA said the jobless rate was at 3.9 percent in October. This was higher than the 3.7 percent rate seen in September but was lower than the 4.2 percent unemployment rate in October last year.

This meant that in October 1.97 million Filipino workers were jobless, which is also higher than the 1.89 million jobless workers in September.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate also climbed to 12.6 percent in October from 11.9 percent in September. This was also higher than the 11.7 percent underemployment rate seen in October last year. This meant that 6.08 million Filipino workers were underemployed, which was also higher than the 5.94 million seen in September.

The PSA defines underemployment as workers who already have jobs but are looking for extra jobs or job hours. A high underemployment rate is usually seen as an indicator that the jobs available are of low quality.

On an annual basis, the sub-sectors that posted the highest increases in jobs were: administrative services, hotels and restaurants, transportation, and construction and mining.  

In contrast, the sub-sectors that posted the highest annual job losses were fishing and aquaculture, wholesale and retail trade,  repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, agriculture and forestry, and manufacturing.

Mapa noted that in the fishing sub-sector alone, around 190,000 jobs were lost in October compared to July. Part of the reason for this was the series of destructive storms that lashed the country that month. He said many fishermen did not go fishing during this time because the storms made it dangerous to go out to sea.

"May mga kababayan tayo na di nakahanap ng trabaho o kaya di sila nag-participate a labor market because of the typhoons. At kung i-check natin, tatlo kasi yung malalakas na bagyo na nakita natin noong Oktubre," Mapa said. 

(Some of our countrymen were not able to find jobs or did not participate in the labor market because of the typhoons. And if we check, there were three strong storms that hit in October.)

Mapa said he expects the string of storms that lashed the country in November to have a similar effect on the country's employment figures for that month.

"Nakikita naming na yung typhoon talaga, nag-contribute sya sa mga sub-sectors kung saan bumaba yung ating employed persons," he added.

(We saw that typhoons really contributed to the decrease in employed persons in some sectors.)

Bad weather has also been blamed for the lackluster GDP growth in the July to September period as the habagat or Southwest monsoon and a series of storms devastated some of the most economically important parts of the country.

Meanwhile, the country's business process outsourcing sector continued to deliver and added more jobs in October. Mapa noted that 260,000 jobs were added in the administrative and support services sector from July to October, most of which were call center jobs.

The PSA chief meanwhile said that the overall trend was still growth in employment and that the higher joblessness in October was just a blip due to the weather.

"Ang nakikita naming, ano lang ito--temporary because of the weather disturbances," Mapa said. 

(What we see is this is just temporary because of the weather disturbances.)