About 9.6 million of the adult labor force in the Philippines were jobless as of December last year, up by about 800,000 from the last survey period two months prior, according to the latest poll of the Social Weather Stations (SWS).
“The estimated numbers of jobless are 9.6 million in December 2022 and 8.8 million in October 2022,” it said.
The poll comes on the heels of data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority, which said the country’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in December 2022, significantly lower than the 6.6 percent registered a year ago.
The latest jobless rate, however, was slightly higher compared to the all-time low of 4.2 percent in November 2022 as job losses were recorded in the agriculture sector due to recent weather disturbances, the PSA said.
The Fourth Quarter 2022 Social Weather Survey was conducted from December 10-14, 2022 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults nationwide.
The SWS poll also found that 11.8% of Filipino families, or an estimated 3 million, experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.
Adult joblessness rose to 21.3% in December from 18.6% in October and 20.8% in June, the pollster reported.
The percentage stayed highest in Metro Manila at 24.8%, followed by Balance Luzon at 23.1%, the Visayas at 18.6%, and Mindanao at 18.1%.
This brought the area averages for 2022 to 25.8% in Metro Manila, 23.8% in Balance Luzon, 17.0% in the Visayas, and 19.0% in Mindanao.
It was an improvement compared to 2021, whereas the annual average joblessness fell from 35.0% in Metro Manila, 27.8% in Balance Luzon, and 22.5% in the Visayas, but stayed at 19.0% in Mindanao.
Joblessness stayed higher among women at 29.7% than men at 15.2%. The resulting average in 2022 was 30.3% among women and 15.5% among men.
Moreover, the joblessness rate also remained highest among the youngest age group.
“As of December 2022, adult joblessness was highest among the 18-to-24-year-olds at 46.7%, followed by the 25-to-34-year-olds at 25.1%, the 35-to-44-year-olds at 20.6%, and those 45 years old and above at 12.7%,” it added.