A vendor walks with a pushcart loaded with food and drinks at a park in Manila on June 1, 2023. The weather bureau has been warning of high heat index recorded in some parts of the country.
The Philippines' unemployment rate drastically decreased, as revealed by PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority) in its latest report.
PSA officials said on Friday, Oct. 6, that the unemployment rate of Filipinos fell to a three-month low of 4.4% in August. This is lower compared to the 4.8% record in July.
The question is, are Filipinos becoming more productive or are they just being forced to work because of the country's worsening inflation?
Productivity or Forced to Work: Philippines' Unemployment Rate Decreases
Manila Standard reported that Dennis Mapa, a national statistician and PSA's civil registrar-general, claims that the current unemployment rate is lower than the 5.3% recorded a year ago.
NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) explained that this number translates to more than 460,000 fewer jobless Filipinos as of August.
"In terms of magnitude, there were 2.21 million unemployed Filipinos aged 15 years and over in August 2023," explained Mapa.
"It was also lower than the 2.27 million unemployed in July 2023 and 2.68 million a year ago," added the PSA official.
Since the unemployment rate decreased, this means that the employment rate of the Philippines has increased. Employed Filipinos aged 15 years old and above reached over 48 million in August.
This is much higher compared to the 47.87 million record in August 2022. As of writing, PSA estimates that the employment rate of the Philippines is more than 95% higher than the employment rate in August 2022 (94.7%) and July 2023 (95.2%).
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Are Filipinos Becoming Productive or Just Forced to Work?
Job seekers queue to fill in forms at a job fair for call centre agents during the International Contact Center Conference and Expo at the SMX Covention Center in Manila on September 18, 2012. The Philippines expects to boost its revenues from call centres to nearly $15 billion by 2016, sustaining its three-year lead over rival India, industry leaders said on September 18.
PSA didn't provide the major factors igniting the rising employment rate in the country. But, Investopedia explained that the unemployment rate is linked to economic inflation.
There's no denying that a higher employment rate is a good sign for a nation's economic growth. Economic experts said that when there's a high unemployment rate, salaries of workers tend to remain stagnant.
But, once the unemployment rate decreases drastically, employers need to offer higher wages to attract employees; leading to a rising wage inflation.
Once this happens, rising wages typically lead to higher prices for consumer products and services in an economy. With all these details, experts conclude that a lower unemployment rate and higher wage inflation can worsen the overall inflation rate of a country.
A very low unemployment rate can also reduce productivity in the business world since employers are no longer looking for skilled employees.
But, since the inflation crisis in the Philippines just keeps on getting worse, Filipinos have no other option but to look for any job they can grab.
With this ongoing issue, the Asian country could experience a never-ending loop of wage inflation and an overall inflation crisis.
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