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Jobless Filipinos hit 12.1M
MANILA, PhilippinesThe number of unemployed Filipinos in the last quarter of 2013 swelled to more than 12 million, making the 7.2-percent growth in the countrys gross domestic product (GDP) last year, considered the second-fastest after China, far from inclusive.
The unemployment rate rose to 27.5 percent, or an estimated 12.1 million individuals, as 2.5 million Filipinos joined the ranks of the jobless between September and December, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey found.
The level of joblessness across the country was almost 6 points higher than the 21.7 percent (some 9.6 million) in the previous quarter, results of the SWS survey conducted from Dec. 11 to 16 showed. The results were first published in BusinessWorld.
Nikka Policarpio, 19, who graduated from the University of Santo Tomas last year with a degree in journalism, is among the millions of unemployed.
Nearly a year after college, Policarpio is already in between jobs since she left her first job last month as a marketing communications specialist.
I have been applying at different media companies for less than a month now I want to take a rest before I start working again, said Policarpio, who resigned from her nine-month stint with a cosmetics company because the low compensation did not match the heavy workload.
The high unemployment rate despite the high GDP growth may have contributed to the pessimistic outlook of Filipinos last December.
A survey by another polling outfit, Pulse Asia, found that 55 percent of Filipinos felt the national quality of life deteriorated in the past 12 months. They also expected the situation to remain the same for the whole of 2014.
Source: Jobless Filipinos hit 12.1M | Inquirer News