The national Social Weather Survey of December 10-14, 2022 found adult joblessness at 21.3% of the adult labor force.
This hardly moved from 18.6% in October 2022 and 20.8% in June 2022. However, it was below the 26.0% in April 2022.
The resulting 21.7% average for 2022 was 4.0 points below the 25.7% average for 2021 and 15.7 points below the record-high 37.4% average for 2020. However, it was 1.9 points above the 19.8% average of 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.
The estimated numbers of jobless are 9.6 million in December 2022 and 8.8 million in October 2022.
SWS defines the Labor Force as adults (18 years and above) presently with a job plus those looking for a job. The Labor Force Participation Rate is the proportion of adults in the labor force.
The December 2022 survey found the Labor Force Participation Rate at 62.6%, or an estimated 45.2 million. It was 65.6%, or an estimated 47.3 million, in October 2022.
The jobless consist of those who (a) voluntarily left their old jobs, (b) are seeking jobs for the first time, or (c) lost their jobs due to economic circumstances beyond their control.
Joblessness reached a catastrophic level of 45.5% in July 2020. It eased to 39.5% in September 2020, 27.3% in November 2020, and 25.8% in May 2021. It rose to 27.6% in June 2021 before easing to 24.8% in September 2021 and 24.7% in December 2021.
SWS: Jobless Filipinos reach 9.6 million as of Dec 2022
Annual average joblessness fell in all areas except in Mindanao
As of December 2022, adult joblessness stayed highest in Metro Manila at 24.8%, followed by Balance Luzon at 23.1%, the Visayas at 18.6%, and Mindanao at 18.1%.
This brings the area averages for 2022 to 25.8% in Metro Manila, 23.8% in Balance Luzon, 17.0% in the Visayas, and 19.0% in Mindanao.
Compared to 2021, the annual average joblessness fell from 35.0% in Metro Manila, 27.8% in Balance Luzon, and 22.5% in the Visayas. However, it stayed at 19.0% in Mindanao.
Higher incidence of Hunger among families of jobless adults
The December 2022 survey found that 11.8% of Filipino families, or an estimated 3.0 million, experienced involuntary hunger – being hungry and not having anything to eat – at least once in the past three months.
The incidence of involuntary hunger was higher among families of jobless adults than among families of those with a job/livelihood.
Involuntary hunger was 23.6% (consisting of 17.9% moderate hunger and 5.7% severe hunger) among families of the jobless, compared to 8.7% (consisting of 6.7% moderate hunger and 2.0% severe hunger) among families of respondents with a job/livelihood.
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