By Ellalyn V. Ruiz
The number of jobless adult Filipinos dropped to its lowest in almost 14 years at 15.7 percent or 7.2 million, a Social Weather Stations survey said.
The nationwide fourth quarter survey conducted from Dec. 8 to 16 last year with 1,200 respondents found out that the number of unemployed Filipinos dropped to 15.7 percent, 3.2 points below the 18.9 percent or 8.7 million adults in the third quarter survey in September 2017.
SWS said that it is the lowest number of jobless Filipinos since the 9.8 percent in March 2004.
Jobless Filipinos in the December 2017 survey were those who voluntarily left their old jobs at 8.3 percent (3.8 million adults), those who involuntarily lost their jobs at 5.9 percent (2.7 million adults), and first-time job seekers, at 1.5 percent (691,000 adults).
SWS said that the adult joblessness data refers to adults in the labor force, which include those with a job at present, plus those without a job at present and looking for a job.
The December 2017 survey also found the adult labor force participation rate at 72.1 percent or an estimated 45.5 million adults, down one point from the 73.1 percent (46.1 million adults) in September 2017.
Adult joblessness consists of those who voluntarily left their old jobs, those who lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control, termed as retrenched, and those seeking jobs for the first time.
The proportion of those who resigned or left their old jobs voluntarily fell by 2.1 points from 10.4 percent in September 2017 to 8.3 percent in December 2017.
Those who were retrenched declined by 0.7 points from 6.6 percent in September to 5.9 percent in December.
