The country’s unemployment rate steadied at 6.4 percent in February, translating to 3.13 million jobless Filipinos following the further easing of mobility and quarantine restrictions, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The PSA’s preliminary February 2022 Labor Force Survey showed the estimated 3.13 million unemployed individuals aged 15-years and above in February was 1.06 million lower compared with 4.19 million in the same month last year.
Notably, the February jobless rate was the lowest since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic at 8.8 percent in February 2021, as it maintained the 6.4 percent rate in January this year.
In a statement Thursday, April 7, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the government’s relaxed movement and mobility restrictions have led to significant employment creation during the month.
At the same time, the labor force participation rate increased from 60.5 percent in January to 63.8 percent in February which led to a net employment creation of 2.5 million over the same period.
This brings the country’s employment to 2.9 million above the pre-pandemic level.
The quality of jobs also improved as seen in the decline in the underemployment rate from 14.9 percent to 14 percent.
“As we contained the spread of the Omicron variant and ramped up the vaccination program, we were able to revert to alert level 2 in the National Capital Region and other economic centers starting February 2022,” Chua said.
“This allowed more Filipinos to rejoin the labor force. We aim to shift the entire country to alert level 1 to enable even more Filipinos to find work,” he added.
As of April 1, 2022, majority or 79 percent of the economy has been placed under alert level 1, the most relaxed form of restrictions. However, the National Economic and Development Authority also cautioned that the country cannot reap the full benefits of shifting to alert level 1 without resuming face-to-face classes.
To maximize the shift to alert level 1, Chua reiterated the need for the full and urgent resumption of face-to-face classes.
“This will allow one-fourth of the parents who stay at home supporting their children during online classes to work. This is crucial in light of the temporary inflationary pressures we are experiencing due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict,” Chua said.
The full resumption of face-to-face classes is included in the 10-point policy agenda proposed by the Economic Development Cluster and adopted by the President through the issuance of Executive Order No. 166.
The agenda includes 10 key strategies to accelerate and sustain the country’s economic recovery and strengthen the domestic economy against external shocks.