Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Leader:
Moina, Rosemarie
Members:
Gonzales, Thea
BSA – 1A
Submitted to:
I. Abstract
This analysis paper aims to determine the main reason of unemployment in the
Philippines and also the effects of having high unemployment rate and possible
solutions on how to solve the problem with regards to this. The qualitative data were
acquired from different articles and prior researches that also discussed about
unemployment rate of the country. According to the results and findings, unavailability
of jobs is the main reason of having unemployment rate. Loss in national output,
increase in social cost and increase in tax rate are the major effects of having high
II. Introduction
In a country with almost a 100 million people living in it, having a 9.1 million
for a job as a percentage of the labor force (except for housewives, students, retired
workers and disabled person who are considered to be not part of the labor force).
economy is in poor shape and jobs are scarce, the unemployment rate can be
expected to rise. When the economy is growing at a healthy rate and jobs are relatively
Starting April 2005, the new unemployment definition was adopted by NSCB
Resolution Number 15 dated October 20, 2004. As indicated in the said resolution,
the unemployed include all persons who are 15 years and over as of their last birthday
and are reported as: (a) without work and currently available for work and seeking
work; or (b) without work and currently available for work but not seeking work for the
following reasons:
4. Bad weather
Statistics Authority (PSA), unemployment rate in the quarter of June 2018 dropped to
5.5 percent from 5.7 percent in April 2017 driven by higher employment in the
country’s three main economic sectors: agriculture, industry, and services. Among the
regions, Ilocos Region (7.3%), CALABARZON (6.6%), and NCR (6.4%) were the
unemployed persons went down by 83 thousand to 2.36 million while the number of
employed increased by 625 thousand to 40.9 million. Meanwhile, the labor force
participation rate declined to 60.9 percent from 61.4 percent. The labor market
remains tight with the unemployment rate at around 5 percent, but the quality of
Despite the fact that employment in the Philippines has been growing fast for
the past decade, still, many Filipinos are jobless. It proves that employment growth is
not enough to lower the unemployment rate given the high population growth and a
According to Cabegin, Dacuycuy, and Alba (2009), there are following types of
persons without work during the reference period but are available and actively
seeking work, or those available but not seeking work because they are temporarily
sick or disabled, or waiting for rehire or the results of a job application. Second, the
‘Discouraged Workers’ are persons who are without work during the reference period
but are not seeking work because they believe that there is non-availability of the work.
Third, ‘Unemployed Persons’ are those who reported wanting additional hours of work
in the present job or in a new job or through an additional job. Fourth, the ‘Fully
Employed Vulnerable Workers’ are those who do not store the same entitlements as
protections accrued to regular workers under the Philippine Labor Code in respect to
working conditions such as security of tenure, wages and leave benefits, and the right
to collective bargaining. This kind of worker are classified into two: (a) The poor self-
employed and family- owned business workers and (b) short-term and intermittent
workers. Lastly, the ‘Labor Force’ is defined as the population between the ages of 15
and 64 who are either unemployed or employed in the domestic labor market or
2018, reaching an all-time high of 13.90 percent in the first quarter of 2000 and a
record low of 4.70 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016. In January 2018, net job
creation in all the three main sectors increased, generating about 2.4 million new jobs,
with an almost equal share from all three sectors. Workers in the services sector
comprised the largest proportion of the population who are employed. These workers
made up 56.4 percent of the total employed in April 2018. Among them, those
engaged in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles
accounted for the largest percentage (34.3%) of workers in the services sector. While
in April 2017, workers in the services sector accounted for 55.4 percent of the total
employed, with those engaged in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor
Workers in the agriculture sector comprised the second largest group making
up 23.9 percent of the total employed in April 2018, while workers in the industry sector
made up the smallest group registering 19.7 percent of the total employed. In April
2017, workers in agriculture accounted for 26.1 percent of the total employed; while
workers in the industry sector, 18.5 percent. The April 2018 Labor Force Survey (LFS)
results also showed that in the industry sector, workers in the construction and
Moreover, among the unemployed persons in April 2018, 62.7 percent were
males. Of the total unemployed, the age group 15 to 24 years comprised 45.8 percent,
while the age group 25 to 34, 30.2 percent. By educational attainment, 19.6 percent
undergraduates, and 28.9 percent have completed junior high school. Graduates of
junior high school includes those high school graduates in the old curriculum.
On the other hand, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes, when
workers are unemployed, their families lose wages, and the nation as a whole loses
their contribution to the economy in terms of the goods or services that could have
been produced. Unemployed workers also lose their purchasing power which can lead
to unemployment for other workers, creating a cascading effect that ripples through
the economy. It also affects those who are still employed. When workers are let go, it
increases the amount of work those who are still employed have to cover. And
because unemployment usually increases when companies are trying to cut costs,
those expected to pick up the slack are not receiving any additional compensation for
extra hours worked. In fact, Dr. Richard Smith, a deputy editor of the British Medical
the psychological, the social, and the economic. The most spectacular of all
the psychological associations is that the rate of suicide appears to be higher among
related social enjoyment of work, leading to poorer mental health. The social
consequences of unemployment are less well explored and more fragmentary. Some
psychological and physical evidence – family stress, including violence and marriage
This is only a proof that unemployment rate has an effect in economic status of
the country and especially to the wellness of an unemployed individual. This analysis
will be conducive to attain the major economic objective of the country in terms of
Based on Central Intelligence Agency, some countries are still going through
the imminent problem of unemployment; just like the Philippines. In which despite the
progress it has showed on its economy, still the country’s unemployment rate ranks
the highest among its neighboring Southeast Asian countries. And in consonance with
what Nepomuceno-Rodriguez has cited in 2012, as per the Bureau of Labor and
Employment Statistics the unemployment figures for the Philippines in 2012 was
among the worst in Asia. Most of the unemployed in the Philippines were college
(32.8%).
There are major factors affecting the high unemployment rate in the Philippines
and according to the Central Intelligence Agency (2013), unavailability of jobs is the
most probable cause of unemployment in the country. With a population growth rate
of 1.84%, it is estimated that in the near future the country’s population will go up to
105 million; and population growth that would lead to overpopulation directly
encouraged the unemployment by increasing the labor force. There are millions of
people who needs a job and only few can provide one. Thus the growth of population
has created obstacles in the way of first growth of the economy and underdeveloped
dependency ratio rate of 61.4%: and with accordance to the Vicious Circles of Poverty
Theory, poorest countries tend to have the highest dependency ratio, that is, the
Moreover, the lack of quality education also contributes to the factors affecting
difficult to find jobs when an individual is not a graduate of particular skill or profession
due to the increasing demand of the fast developing world. The country faces a
competitive world and it is a must to reach the norms of development. Hence, to uplift
the unemployment rate in the country; high educational attainment is the one of the
according to The World Bank (2013), Philippines is one of the most hazard-prone
countries in the World; and also sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area prone to
aftermath of these calamities heavily affects the labor force of the country. With that
in consonance to Central Intelligence Agency (2013) in the year 2012, 15% of labor
force comes from industrial sector and a high percentage is coming from the
Philippines is 8.78%. Withal, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies cited that
in the Philippines, unemployment is a time bomb; and that between 2015 to 2030,
labor forces will increase from 32 million to about 52 million. In addition to that,
according to Jimeno (2016), there are greater number of employees who are unable
to take on available jobs because it is not connected with what they learned. This is
due to the serious disconnect between what schools teach and the demand in the job
market. Students are not acquiring skills they truly need to fill up available jobs when
they graduate. Aside from that, the Government itself, can be blamed as the real cause
of massive unemployment in the country. As it has failed to create the needed climate
Studies said that in the Philippines, unemployment is a time bomb. Between 2005 and
2030, the labor force will increase from 32 million to about 52 million. Yet it is
befuddling why, in some sectors, there are many available jobs, but few qualify to fill
up the vacancies. In the food sector, for instance, there is a dearth of workers with
medical sector while there is a glut of nurses, there has been a shortage of CT scan
they will take anything they can get to pay the bills. Technological change also causes
underemployment. For example, ATM machines have replaced the need for many
bank tellers. These used to be the entry-level positions for a career in finance and
banking. As a result, many college graduates who were finance majors take what they
can. They wind up as a home health aides, waiters or truck drivers. These positions
of the causes of youth unemployment. Recent surveys reveal that Filipino youth
suffers the highest rate of unemployment among age groups. The International Labor
Organization estimates that unemployment rate among Filipino youth aged 15-24
averaged at 16.5% from 2010 to 2015.The situation prompted senator Joel Villanueva
to file Senate Resolution No. 129 directing the Committee on Labor, Employment and
Human Resources Development to review the state of job-skills mismatch in the
country.
has a contagious effect or like a domino where increased unemployment leads to less
growth and a decrease in consumer spending that affects businesses, which could
lead to the layoff of workers due to losses. An economy that is experiencing recession
would decrease the business sales and revenues which may cause businesses to
stop expanding; and when the demand drop or not high enough, businesses start to
report losses and first try to reduce their costs by lowering wages or ceasing to hire
new workers in which resulting to an increase in unemployment rate (Mary Hall, 2018).
The following are some of the reasons that were considered as causes that
whose skills don’t necessarily fit with what is in demand in the job market. When
nurses were in demand abroad in the earlier part of the decade, nursing schools
effectively leaving out other medical fields such as respiratory therapists, cardio
technicians and CT-scan operators that are also in demand abroad. As a result,
explained that due to the numerous nursing graduates this year at 67,728,
hospitals have to get volunteer nurses — a lot better because they are not paid —
that United States, almost home to 250,000 Filipino nurses in the past years,
stopped issuing work visas this year because the quota requirement for migrant
workers has already been reached. There were 21,000 Filipino nurses seeking
have an annual total enrollment of over 420,000 students and each year, 100,000
new nurses take the board exams yet only 40 percent are able to make the grade.
More than 100,000 college graduates fail in qualifying board exams each year with
While the number of board examinees is on the rise since year 2000, BON
member Marco Sto. Tomas said the passing rate exhibited a declining trend from
average of 49.5 percent. This year, only 39 percent of nursing licensure examinees
surveyed, only 111 had at least 50 percent of their graduates pass the local nursing
eligibility test from 2001 to 2005. The 2006 nursing board exam anomaly also
graduates are unable to take on careers that are available in the job market. Some
would think it’s unimaginable to take a job that’s too unrelated to the course he/she
finished in college. With little or no entrepreneurial skills, many job hunters are
It’s hard, if not impossible, to land a job if an applicant doesn’t even know
where to start. Even if they’re looking at a job description, some of them are unable
to figure out how to fill up a form, how to use e-mail service or find the address of
the recruitment agency. A few would leave comments in a news article expressing
their interest. Anyone wants to see more proof? Have a look at the comments of a
In the Philippines, a simple job vacancy gets way too many applicants. As
a way to pre-qualify applicants (or discourage those that are not fit), employers
have set requirements that are otherwise discriminatory and unreasonable. Take
Instead of relying on experience and skills, many Filipino employers rely on looks,
age and other unnecessary requirements (at least for a cashier job). Customers
need to pay you even if you don’t look very pretty; is the cashier chair too high that
a certain height must be reached? Maybe these companies can’t pay that much,
so they only take fresh graduates who may accept lower than minimum salary rate.
Overpopulation
annual population growth rate of 2.3%, the country’s population might reach and
even grow above 95 million in as short as 5 years (Perez 2005). After another 20
The pace at which jobs are created simply cannot cope up with steady
supply of graduates whom many will find themselves unemployed. A country with
Opportunities can be built out of such situation. More babies born mean more jobs
for construction workers who build hospitals and schools. More jobs for nurses and
teachers who will take care and educate these children. More foreign businesses
will be setup because with a large pool of cheap labor, it becomes cost efficient to
Such desperation to get a job can sometimes make applicants more prone
to scams and fall prey to illegal recruiters, SMS and Internet scams, further
degrading their lives. The government’s unemployment problem should not be
rights to the Super Maid program). Such solution may be deemed short-term for
intensified.
sprawling Southeast Asian nation of more than 100 million people. Under
President Benigno Aquino, in office since 2010, unemployment has fallen. The
latest figures show the rate at 6.4 percent in the second quarter of this year, down
from 7 percent a year earlier. But progress has been uneven and the Philippines
still has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the Asean region. One reason
is that job creation has struggled to keep pace with an ever-expanding population.
In three of the past five years, the number of people entering the job market has
being Southeast Asias fastest at 6.8 percent in 2012, the country recorded a high
data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed. The jobless rate was up
from 6.9 percent in April 2012. A total of 3.09 million Filipinos were unemployed in
April 2013, up from 2.8 million the previous year, NSO figures showed.
Apparently, job creation cannot keep up with the estimated one million
Filipinos entering the job market every year. By educational attainment, 33.7
percent of the unemployed were high school graduates, 13.1 percent were
and academics make convincing arguments that there is a certain natural level of
costs on the individual, society, and the country. The cost on individual is that
economy of otherwise useful talents; it can change how worker plan their futures
and to extent of workers being less willing to invest in the long years of training
some job require. Similarly, the absence of income due to the unemployment may
force families to deny educational opportunities for their children and deprive the
economy of such future abilities. The cost on the society is that when
unemployment becomes a pervasive problem, there are often increased need for
reduce trade and harm the economic well-being of all trading partners. While the
cost to country, unemployment leads to higher payments from state and federal
same time, governments are no longer collecting the same level of income tax as
before – forcing the government to borrow money or cut back on other spending.
The following are some of the reasons that were considered as impacts or
since if one does not work, he would naturally not be able to get any income. On
the individual level, this is not so serious, but on a larger scale, this can be very
problematic. People would be less willing and able to purchase goods and services
and they would tend to purchase what they originally consider inferior goods and
hence may experience the negative effects of loss in income such as debt, and
collectively bigger problems such as increased poverty rates and lower standards
and this is especially serious when there is a financial crisis where recession and
unemployment is rampant. When a company closes down, many jobs are lost.
Since what one spends is what another earns and one is unemployed, he has
lower purchasing power and would also prefer to save more as one is likely to be
collectively, their expenditure would be much lower. This would inevitably also lead
to a decrease in demand. On the supplier side, if there’s lower demand and lower
income, they too will lower production, and a decrease in demand and decrease
in expenditure on materials by the suppliers would affect the next level of suppliers
in the same way. This may result negative effects such as a drop in GDP.
since part of the workforce is not being used. Hence production is not at its
national output. If the situation does not improve in the long run, aggregate supply
would drop and hence results in a continuous loss of potential national output and
Fiscal Costs
One way government gets revenue is through tax revenue. This simply
involves taxing the income of people, based on their income. When there is
unemployment, the government would collect less tax revenue as a result since
the incomes of people are lower. This loss would increase as unemployment
increases. Unemployment can result in debt and poverty, and the government has
to take care of these people, hence welfare spending would also increase at the
same time. In cases where unemployment is very high, there would be a budget
deficit, due to a combination of the two, loss of tax revenue and increased welfare
spending. This would result in the government having a limited budget to spend on
the many areas as well as decreased spending on public and merit goods. It might
also burden the employed since the government might increase tax rates to boost
tax revenue.
Social Costs
such as increased crime rates and lower life expectancy are all related to
unemployment. For instance, people who have lower income and are in debt might
resort to crime to earn themselves a living, and high employment would lead to
more of such people, leading to increased crime rates. Furthermore, some places
with constantly high unemployment rates might observe high inequality in income,
and this is even more prominent in countries with high growth but high
unemployment.
Based on econslip2014.com, (2018) there are the things that our country
should to solve or lessen the unemployment rate in our country. The solutions are
the following:
for people to gain the sufficient skills that are necessary for working in a certain
immediately or easily since they cannot be employed in the industry that requires
their skills and also cannot work in other industries since they may not have
sufficient skills. Hence, the government can provide retraining programs for the
unemployed, so that they can improve their skills or gain new skills necessary to
courses, they can gain new skills that are necessary to garner them a place in the
workforce.
Employment Subsidies
hire workers that are unemployed. With a subsidy, costs of production for firms go
down since the price of each unit of labor resource decreases. Hence, employers
will be more willing and able to hire more workers and increase the number of
workers that they are willing to hire. This increases the size of the workforce and
difficult to ensure that firms are willing to retain the increased size of their workforce
employers will be more willing and able to employ more workers. This helps to
address the issue of unemployment. However, this is a long term strategy that
the problem of unemployment in the Philippines. However, this method can place
a strain on the government budget, depending on how much subsidies the
government provides.
According to Pooja Mehta, (2018), there are the things that can do to avoid
Production technique should suit the needs and means of the country. It is
intensive technology.
liking for higher studies should be admitted in colleges and universities. Emphasis
should be given on vocational education. Qualified engineers should start their own
small units.
cottage and small scale industries etc. These persons should be helped financially,
Increase in Production
encouraged.
programs like irrigation, roads, flood control, power, agriculture, rural electrification
novel approach to fight against unemployment. Different State Govt. should take
If industrial activities are centralized at one place, there will be less employment
opportunities in the under developed areas. So Govt. should adopt such policies
Population Control
and effectively.
significantly increased in popularity over the past two decades (Strauss & Corbin,
2006). “Qualitative researchers stress the socially constructed nature of reality. They
sought answers to questions that stress how social experience is created and given
representations of the world which are primarily linguistic (Heppner, Kivlighan, &
Wampold, 1999). This type of investigation allows for the subtleties of human
flexibility and openness towards the data (Stauss & Corbin, 2006).
The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the unemployment
problem in the Philippines. Qualitative inquiry and analysis fit this purpose with
stronger sensitivity than a quantitative methodology could offer. Also, there are little
researches existed about the topic; therefore, qualitative methods are suited for this
study. Since this study is exploratory in nature, the process of allowing the data to
speak for itself further supports a qualitative method of inquiry. Given that qualitative
generalizability is not possible, nor is it a goal (Heppner, Kivlighan, & Wampold, 2009).
The qualitative inquiry, as applied in this study, offers a high level of internal validity.
Applicability of the study to the reader’s personal experience, however, is a goal. Such
applicability would allow readers of the study and future researchers to identify pieces
of the data that may create an interest or spark the development of questions within
the contexts of their own lives or future research. First, the research team will gather
data regarding the unemployment in the Philippines. The data will revolve around
unemployment rate with regards to location, educational attainment, age, gender, and
This paper found out that the main reason of having high unemployment rate of
the Philippines is the unavailability of jobs. This finding is supported by the study
conducted by Central Intelligence Agency on 2013. It asserts that the most probable
cause of unemployment in the Philippines is the lack of available jobs. Santos (2013)
also said that job creation has struggled to cope with the expanding population. In the
past three years, the number of job created is lesser than the number of people
As for the findings, this paper found out that having a problem with regards to
unemployment can lead to loss in national output. This result is supported by the study
of Stephen D. Simpson conducted last 2017. He said that when a lot of people is
unemployed their expenditure would be much lower and this would lead to decrease
in demand. This may also result into negative effects like a drop in Gross Domestic
Another effect is the increase in Social Cost. Simpson (2017) discussed that
unemployment can result into poverty, and the government has to take care of these
the employed person. Simpson (2017) said that since the government is no longer
collecting the same amount of income tax like before it might result into increase in
upon the gathered data, we conclude that the main reason of having a high
unemployment rate is the unavailability of jobs and the major effects of the
unemployment in our country is Loss in Natural Output, Increase in Social Cost, and
it may also burden the employed since the government might increase tax rates to
VII. Recommendations
employment, how to control our population and create programs that will help the
people to improve their skills or acquire new skills necessary to ensure their
employment.
Researchers also recommend to the government that they must provide more
jobs in the Philippines, an example is through PPP (Public Private Partnership) where
the government and private firms are merged to produce more projects that will create
more jobs to help reduce the unemployment rate. The government should also end
the contractualization.
This would give a lot of information and would help especially to those people
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