More quality jobs have been available to the working public as the country records a lower underemployment rate for the month of August.
Based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data, the country’s underemployment rate declined to 14.7% in August 2021 from 20.9% in July. The August number is equivalent to 6.5 million underemployed Filipinos.
NEDA Sec. Chua says underemployment rose to 20.9% in July 2021 “triggered by weather disturbance in agriculture.” This declined to 14.7% in August. pic.twitter.com/Ei123pEg96
— PTVph (@PTVph) September 30, 2021
Around 44.23 million persons or 91.9% were also employed, but the number of unemployed individuals increased to 8.1% in August at 3.88 million.
LOOK: Philippine unemployment rate in 2020 and 2021 pic.twitter.com/B5bdVuBc20
— PTVph (@PTVph) September 30, 2021
“This result is expected, given the stricter quarantine imposed to curb the spread of the Delta variant. Based on a 7-day moving average, the number of COVID-19 cases have gone down by around 15 percent since the peak on September 11, 2021,” the government’s economic managers said in a joint statement.
“This trend will support the further reopening of the economy and the use of granular lockdowns to allow the majority to return to work and earn a living,” they added.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said it is hoping for the expansion of the alert level system in Metro Manila to different regions.
“Tama ang stratehiya natin to have granular lockdowns at habang ginagawa natin ‘yan, bumababa ang cases,” NEDA Sec. Karl Chua said in the Sept. 30 Palace briefing.
“Gumagana po iyong ating strategy of balancing the risk between COVID and non-COVID. So, tuloy po iyong ating strategy na we use granular lockdowns and we use more targeted approach,” Chua added, citing the decline of cases this September.
This was supported by Malacañang, saying that the reproduction rate and number of cases have started to go down. The government has yet to decide on Metro Manila’s alert level and the quarantine classification of other areas.
The NEDA said 69 % of the economy is still under heightened quarantine classification with around 23.3 million workers affected.
Chua said the total cost of the pandemic could balloon up to P41 trillion in the span of 40 years if the pandemic’s impact is not minimized.
“Iyong consumption and investment, hindi siya magiging kasing taas ng pre-pandemic in the next 10 years dahil may mga sectors na kailangan ng social distancing na hindi mag-o-operate nang 100%,” he said.
The government said it is determined to vaccinate a larger portion of the country’s population and to strengthen the Prevent-Detect-Isolate-Treat-Reintegrate (PDITR) in response to the projections.
Meanwhile, Malacañang dismissed Senator Joel Villanueva’s call to abolish the Inter-Agency Task Force and to shift on empowering local governments.
“We don’t claim to have been perfect. But certainly, let’s give due recognition where it is due, dahil nakikita naman po natin naiiwasan natin ang mas marami pa sanang mga kamatayan kung hindi po tayo nag-implement ng mga measures na sinangguni at binuo po ng ating IATF,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said. – Report from Naomi Tiburcio/AG-rir
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