Unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since the start of the pandemic despite stricter quarantine restrictions amid Omicron surge in January, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed on Friday, March 18.

The number of jobless Filipinos stood at 2.93 million in the first month of the year, equivalent to an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent. This figure improved slightly from 6.6 percent in December, but way better the 8.8 percent recorded in the same month last year.

While the unemployment rate declined, the labor force participation rate fell from 65.1 percent to 60.5 percent.

In terms of magnitude, the number of labor force participants stood at 45.94 million, down by roughly 3.61 million Filipinos aged 15 and above who were either employed or unemployed from 49.55 million in December.

Likewise, the level of underemployment slightly increased from 14.7 percent to 14.9 percent.

In addition, the number of employed Filipinos dropped to 43.02 million from 46.27 million in December.

However, in terms of employment rate, January’s print was at 93.6 percent, slightly higher than December’s 93.4 percent.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua has attributed the lower employment levels to the end of the holiday season which shed off seasonal jobs. Despite this, net employment remains at 500,000 above the pre-pandemic level.

“The Omicron surge caused a temporary decline in our employment levels. Now that we have contained the spread of the virus and shifted to Alert Level 1 in most parts of the country, we look forward to an improvement in employment outcomes in the coming months,” Chua said.

Since March 15, 70 percent of the economy has already shifted to Alert Level 1, which means that more restrictions were removed on travel and capacity limits on establishments were eased.

According to the National Economic and Development (NEDA), the lowering of lower level translates to an additional P10.8 billion per week of economic activity for the country and 195,000 less unemployed over the next quarter, compared to Alert Level 2.

Chua also emphasized the need to reopen all schools in Alert Level 1 for face-to-face learning as this will provide a big boost to the economy, enable children to learn more, and allow more parents to go back to work.

“We reiterate the need for the full and urgent resumption of face-to-face classes to maximize the benefits of alert level 1. This can increase economic activity by around PHP 12 billion per week due to the return of related services around schools,” Chua said.

“It will also free up the time of parents, one in four of whom have to skip or reduce work hours in order to assist their children with online classes at home,” he added.

To cushion the most vulnerable from the impact of inflationary pressures due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the government will distribute targeted subsidies amounting to P6.1 billion.

Among the primary beneficiaries are transport and agriculture and fisheries sector workers.

At the same time, the government is also planning to provide unconditional cash transfers of P2,400 for the bottom 50 percent of households to mitigate the impact of rising prices of basic goods.

NEDA has also recommended a four-day workweek, with 10 hours each day, as a measure to help conserve energy and reduce transportation costs. The same strategy was employed during the 1990s in the midst of the Gulf War and in 2008 amid high oil prices.

“As we continue to face these temporary setbacks, the government is determined to support our workers by putting in place these measures to help all affected sectors,” Chua said.