MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / Dec. 20, 2012) – San Juan City Representative JV Ejercito Estrada has criticized Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz for “welcoming” the results of the October 2012 Labor Force Survey which indicated that some 120,000 Filipinos have joined the ranks of the unemployed.
Ejercito Estrada said Baldoz’s statement is out of touch with reality. “There is nothing to welcome about the latest Labor Force survey. Secretary Baldoz’s statements are starkly different from what’s really happening on the ground,” he said.
He said that the correct appreciation of the latest employment statistics such as the LFS is to show that the government should double its efforts on ensuring that economic growth trickles down to the poor.
“The government should stop being preoccupied with projecting positive employment statistics. It’s time for the administration to buckle down to work and help Filipinos achieve prosperity through education and more jobs,” said Ejercito Estrada, who is running for the senatorial elections next year under the United Nationalist Alliance.
He also noted that since most of the unemployed are fresh graduates – whose age range from 15 to 24 years old – the Aquino administration should focus on creating more jobs that will suit this segment of the labor force.
He said that beneficiaries of the Aquino administration’s Conditional Cash Transfer program should be the focus of the government’s programs for employment so that they will not become dependent on dole-outs.
The October 2012 Labor Force Survey results recorded an estimate of 37.7 million employed persons, which gives an employment rate of 93.2 percent.
Last year’s employment rate was estimated at 93.6 percent. Across regions, Cagayan Valley reported the highest employment rate of 97.6 percent, next is Zamboanga Peninsula with 96.6 percent. National Capital Region (NCR) posted the lowest employment rate of 89.0 percent.
The total population 15 years old and over in October 2012 was estimated at 63.3 million. Out of this estimate, 40.4 million persons were in the labor force. This figure translates to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 63.9 percent. The LFPR in October 2011 was 66.3 percent.
Among regions, the highest LFPR was posted in Northern Mindanao at 68.5 percent, while the lowest was reported in Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) at 57.9 percent.
Out of the estimated 37.7 million employed persons in October 2012, workers belonging to the services sector comprised the largest proportion with 52.6 percent of the total employed persons. Of the employed persons in the services sector, those engaged in wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles accounted for the highest percentage (18.7% of the total employed).
Workers in the agriculture sector appeared to be the second largest group with an estimate of 32.3 percent of the total employed. Only 15.2 percent of the total employed was working in the industry sector. (Mindanao Examiner)
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