Latest PH Jobless Rate of 7.1% Still Worst Among Emerging Asia

According to a report done by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), the jobless rate in the Philippines remains the worst among emerging Asian countries.

In March of this year, the country’s jobless rate fell to 7.1%. This was the lowest since the height of the strictest lockdown in the region, which was implemented in April 2020.

The state of the labor market has been gradually improving, but the recent implementation of an enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and modified enhanced community quarantine (MECQ) in April might prove to undo these employment gains.

Around 75% of the economy was closed from mid-March to May of 2020, which led the unemployment rate to reach a record-high of 17.6% or 7.2 million jobless Filipinos. This steadily declined as quarantine restrictions eased enabling the figures to go as low as 7.1% in March.

Regardless, the latest unemployment rate reported in the Philippines still proves to be significantly higher when compared to six other emerging Asian countries.

From January to February 2021, India’s jobless rate was at 6.7%; Malaysia posted an unemployment rate of 4.8% in February; Vietnam’s was at 2.4% in March.

Other countries included China at 4.2% in December 2020; Thailand’s jobless rate was at 1.9% from October to December 2020; Indonesia reported 7.1% in August 2020.

“Compared to the latest unemployment rates of select Asian economies, the country’s unemployment rate remains relatively high. However, the month-on-month improvement in the unemployment rate remains at par with the observed global trend of gradual labor market recovery,” said the NEDA.

“Nonetheless, returning to the pre-pandemic unemployment rate of 5.3 percent in January 2020 continues to be a challenge,” it added.

“Accelerating the rollout of vaccination in the succeeding months is necessary to achieve herd immunity and allow for the gradual reopening of the economy. Likewise, there is a need to further ramp up vaccine deployment especially in high-risk populations and among critical economic front-liners (A4 priority group) once vaccine supply stabilizes. The effective rollout of these vaccine doses, complemented by the safe and gradual reopening of low-risk areas, will build confidence and allow the economy to further restore jobs and incomes,” NEDA explained further.

Source: Inquirer