4.14 million Filipinos jobless in April

ABS-CBN News MANILA - Unemployment hit 8.7 percent in April, the same level compared to the previous quarter or the data from January 2021, the state statistics bureau said Tuesday. This translates to 4.14 million jobless Filipinos for the month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a virtual briefing. Unemployment in January 2021 was at 8.7 percent with 3.95 million jobless Filipinos, data showed. On a month-on-month basis, April's figure is higher compared to unemployment in March which was at 7.1 percent, equivalent to 3.44 million jobless Filipinos. The Labor Force Participation for the month is higher at 63.24 percent compared to 60.5 percent in January 2021, it added. Underemployment is at 17.2 percent in April 2021, higher compared to 16 percent in January, data showed. Underemployment for the month is lower compared to 18.9 percent in April 2020. The Philippines recorded the "worst" unemployment rate in 2020 at 10.4 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PSA earlier said. Based on revised data, unemployment in April 2020 ballooned 17.6 percent, translating to 7.2 million jobless Filipinos after the first COVID-19 lockdown was imposed in mid-March last year. Despite imposing another lockdown at the end of March 2021, authorities have said the measure was less restrictive which means less jobs would be affected. During a pre-SONA economic forum, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said employment lost due to the pandemic has been restored. However, the Asian Development Bank said the pandemic has led to lower quality jobs and skills mismatch.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more