SWS: 69% of Filipino adults say jobs are hard to find these days

Most Filipinos believe that it is tough to find jobs now but 50% are positive that opportunities will increase for them in the next 12 months, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey.

This is what emerged from a survey conducted by SWS from March 26 to 29, which was only made public this Thursday.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Sixty-nine percent of Filipino adults say jobs are hard to find these days. Half [50%] are hopeful there will be more jobs 12 months from now,” SWS said in a statement yesterday.

“Finding a job has always been HARD since 2011.”

Here is a breakdown of the results in that study:

ADVERTISEMENT
  • easy to find a job now: 11%
  • not easy or difficult: 16%
  • struggling: 69%
  • don’t know: 4%

This is how the survey looks even though the unemployment rate dropped to 4.7% (March), according to the latest study by the Philippine Statistics Authority. That is equivalent to 2.42 million unemployed Filipinos. However, the unemployment rate was only slightly down from 4.8% in February.

The government says the percentage of employed people also increased to 95.3% in the same month, which equates to 48.58 million. That’s 1.61 million higher than in March 2022.

Despite this, 5.44 million people are still underemployed or those who want extra work hours or extra work to increase income.

ADVERTISEMENT

SWS: 69% of Filipino adults say jobs are hard to find these days

Many are still optimistic that more jobs will be available next year, the SWS study added:

more work in the next 12 months: 50%
no change: 26%
less: 10%
don’t know: 14%

“Since 2009, except during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Filipinos have been more optimistic about job availability,” the survey firm said.

It can be recalled that unemployment rose to 17.7% in April 2020, the highest that can be compared in the history of the Philippines, at the same time as the strict enhanced community quarantines and lockdowns against COVID-19.

That is equivalent to 7.3 million Filipinos who were affected by the closures of establishments and restrictions on human movement.

It was only Wednesday when SWS also reported that joblessness is still at 19% if we look at the adult labor force. Although lower than the 21.3% in December, it is still higher than the 17.5% in December 2019 before COVID-19 hit.

Visit our Facebook page for more  updates.