Unemployment rate rises to 23.7% in Q3

MANILA, Philippines - The number of jobless Filipinos rose to 23.7 percent in the third quarter of the year, the Social Weather Stations said on Monday.

This is an increase from the 23.3-percent jobless rate or about 10.5 million Filipinos in June.

The latest SWS survey showed that 11.7 percent lost their jobs involuntarily while 8.4 resigned from their work.

Adult joblessness in September was at 14.2 percent or an estimated 5.4 million Filipino adults. Meanwhile, 13.4 percent or 5 million adults were not working and looking for work.

By gender, joblessness among women was recorded at 33.9 percent in September, an increase from 31.3 percent in June. Unemployment among men dropped from 16.9 percent to 15.9 percent.

The unemployment rate among those 45 years and above was 14 percent, higher than last quarter’s 11 percent.

Joblessness among the 35-44 age bracket and among the 25-34 bracket went up to 22 percent (from 20 percent) and 31 percent (from 29 percent), respectively.

In the 18-24 bracket, joblessness decreased from 55 percent in the previous quarter to 51 percent.

The SWS Labor Force Survey defines "unemployed" as those who are not working, looking for work and available for work. It subtracts those who are looking but not available for work and adds those available but not looking for work.

The survey was conducted among 1,200 adults nationwide from September 2 to 5.