UNEMPLOYEMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

Unemployment in the Philippines is getting bigger and bigger
What causes unemployment in the Philippines?

It is very painful for me seeing many professionals who have no work.With a growing population of about 8 million, millions needed jobs and only few can sure provide one and fortunately I belong to the few. As we can see in the television our politics now a days is very dirty, chaotic and most especially CORRUPTIONS are ramphant. It is obviously one of the most problem why our country Philippines suffer a scarcity. Plenty are suffering because of that so called corruption.The lack of investors and businesses that could provide good jobs for the Filipino people is one key factor in the growing unemployment in the Philippines. People are suffering from poverty. How can we stop this problem? Where can we blame on this jobless filipinos?.Filipinos are very talented but where are they now? They are neglicted by our government, its very hurting seeing them that they are jobless. I am praying and hoping that this problem will be solved as soon as possible.
Based on the web pls.see url: http://zamboangajournal.wordpress.com/2008/01/22/14-million-jobless-filipinos-excluded-in-govt-data/ 1.4 Jobless Filipinos Excluded in the Government Data.
January 22, 2008 at In 1 MANILA, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Jan. 22, 2008) – An independent think-tank IBON Foundation disputed Manila’s data on employment, estimating that government statistical manipulation removed over a million Filipinos from the official unemployment count.Government data showed that in 2007, there was an annual average of 2.7 million unemployed Filipinos, a steep drop from figures recorded in recent years.IBON research head Sonny Africa cited the recent IBON study that estimates at least 4.06 million jobless Filipinos and an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent. This was 1.4 more than the official count of 2.7 million, which placed the average unemployment rate for 2007 at just 7.3 percent.Average unemployment rate of 11.3% over the 2001-2007 period shows the economy is still suffering record joblessness despite government’s attempts to obscure the figures. Government reports lower joblessness only because it revised the definition of unemployment to exclude discouraged job hunters from the labor force count, not because the economy created more jobs, Africa said.The effect of this new methodology in 2007 was to dramatically reduce the labor force participation rate (the percentage of population 15 years and above who are in the labor force) to 64% from the 66.5% under the National Statistics Office (NSO) traditional unemployment definition.IBON had requested the NSO for employment figures based on the old methodology, but said that it no longer computed such labor force data, unlike in past years when it presented data using both methods.“This makes comparison of current employment data with previous years impossible as it paints a false picture of an improving jobs situation,” Africa said in a statement.IBON made its own estimates to roughly compare employment figures using both methods.Africa added that the 601,000 net additional jobs created in 2007 is just a 1.8% increase from the year before which is the slowest rate of job creation since the start of the Arroyo administration.The most jobs were created in domestic household help with 142,000 additional such jobs created.In contrast only 72,000 agriculture jobs and 4,000 manufacturing jobs were added. Employment and unemployment trends in 2007 then confirm the deep problems of the Philippine economy despite much hype about rapid economic growth and a “strengthening” peso, Africa said IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.
Summary: Unemployment has remained high in the Philippines, at almost twice the level of neighboring countries, despite relatively fast employment growth in the past decade. Employment growth was not sufficient to reduce unemployment because of rapid population growth and increased labor force participation. This paper shows that Philippine employment growth and unemployment declines were positively correlated with real GDP growth and, to a lesser extent, negatively with the real minimum wage. The key policy implications are that higher economic growth and moderation of increases in the real minimum wage are required to reduce unemployment. (refer to this site: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk=15591)