The scorching heat discouraged many job seekers, especially in the agriculture sector, leading to an increase in the number of unemployed Filipinos.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Wednesday, May 8, reported that the number of jobless Filipinos rose to two million in March this year from 1.8 million in February.
The PSA attributed much of this increase to the agriculture sector, which registered a loss of 318,000 jobs during the month.
PSA Undersecretary Claire Dennis S. Mapa said that the reduction in agricultural jobs can be linked to the extreme heat conditions.
"The report on the value production in agriculture and fisheries has been released, and we can see that in crops and fisheries, including livestock such as hog farming, we have experienced a decrease in value production," Mapa said.
“This is reflected in our value production in agriculture and fisheries, and the data is consistent with our employment and labor market statistics. So, yes, they were affected by the El Niño," he added.
In March, several regions across the country registered a "dangerous" heat index, or the perceived heat level individuals felt.
Most of the decline in agricultural workers came from those who grow corn, which decreased by 360,000, followed by paddy rice growers, which dropped to 204,000.
The number of workers in the fisheries and aquaculture sector also dropped by 449,000, wherein 285,000 were from marine fishing and 216,000 from seaweed gatherers.
The unemployment rate in March settled at 3.9 percent, an increase from 3.5 percent in February but a significant decrease from 4.7 percent in the same month last year.
On the other hand, the underemployment rate, or the measurement of individuals forced to work in low-paying or low-skill jobs, declined to 5.39 million or 11 percent from 6.8 million a month ago.
National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said that the government is looking to conduct a timely review of the minimum wage rate and to study the improvement of the wage adjustment process.
Balisacan added that it is also planning to conduct training programs for workers and employers by integrating courses on advanced productivity tools such as data science, analytics, and artificial intelligence.
“For the government to sustain a robust labor market and reap the benefits of the demographic dividend, it must ensure that people are healthy, educated, and skilled,” Balisacan said.
“To facilitate the development of soft and hard skills among workers and create a more agile and adaptive workforce, we at NEDA continue to advocate for the passage of the Apprenticeship Bill, Lifelong Learning Bill, and the Enterprise Productivity Act,” he further said.