Jobs crisis intensifying under Duterte – IBON
Jobs crisis intensifying under Duterte – IBON
Over 700,000 jobs lost in agriculture and fisheries
Research group IBON said that despite recently hyped growth of 6.8% in first quarter 2018 the country’s jobs situation continues to worsen under the Duterte administration.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that the employment rate grew slightly to 94.5% in April 2018, while the unemployment rate was lower at 5.5 percent. The jobs situation seemed to improve as the number of employed Filipinos rose by 625,000 and the number of unemployed declined by 83,000. The government largely attributed this to increased infrastructure spending.
According to IBON estimates correcting for government underestimation, however, the number of unemployed actually grew by 82,000 to 4.1 million in April 2018 from 4 million in April 2017. Official unemployment figures do not reflect discouraged workers or those who have dropped out of the labor force after failing to find work after six months.
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