Unemployment and Poverty in the Philippines
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According to the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA), the current employment rate is around 96.1%. In reverse, current unemployment stands at 3.8%. This looks good on the surface. So, where are the employment gaps and how do they relate to poverty in the Philippines?
Within the Philippines, there are wage/salaried workers in private companies or the army. There are the self-employed/family businesses, retail stores or drivers with low-paid employees. Then they have the farming towns and family members who are technically unemployed but still receive allowances.
Workplace Quality
Let’s look at what the conditions of these workplaces entail, the pay, the benefits and the knowledge level required to perform these jobs. While hospitality and food service jobs are on an employment rise of 377,000, careers in administration and agriculture have largely decreased by almost a million. In STEM, they’ve had a shorter decrease of -68,000. These facts are distressing because they reflect the lack of skill or education the people of the Philippines have access to or have completed, which directly reflects the unemployment and poverty in the Philippines.
The reasoning behind these statistics could be the unmanageable population rate or it could be the lack of sufficient education. It is recognized that job quality is not at its finest in the Philippines. Asian Development Bank (ADB) lists that the major factors of poverty in this nation revolve around weak employment generation, increasing populations, recurring trauma of natural disasters, income inequalities, etc.
ADB research found that poverty is directly related to the accessibility of education. Families with many children tend to be the first affected by poverty and unemployment in the Philippines. It also found that the government still has a hand in the reason why chronic poverty levels have not improved with no action on poverty reduction programs.
“Self-Rated” Poverty & The Employment Gap
In his recent article, entrepreneur and President of the National Economic Protectionism Association (NEPA) Brian James Lu explores the highest rates of what he calls “self-rated” poverty. So theoretically, the job market holds plenty of opportunities, but the people qualified for these roles are few. This is where the employment gap and issues of poverty intersect. Last December, SWS reported 63% of Filipinos claimed themselves as unemployed.
“The characteristic of Philippine employment is that while more Filipinos are technically employed, many are underemployed, working jobs that offer meager wages, lack security, or provide limited hours,” according to Lu.
Concerns of Poverty
It is said in the research publication that there is an average of 20 typhoons annually, financial success is limited especially with families who are involved in agriculture, and it was recorded that only 5% of lower income households used health services. The findings breakdown the gap between primary and secondary education compared at 96% over 73%. In turn, Filipinos who are already considered poor are discriminated against when applying to jobs.
Active Solutions
Skill development programs like the Philiphines Skill Framework (PSF) focused on quality education, organizations such as The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) have provided training programs, especially in STEM/Medical careers and “Trabaho Para sa Bayan” (TPB) planning on the technology field have started to make a positive impact on the livelihood of many Filipino families. The need for “multi-skilled” individuals is a desired outcome for rising market demand.
