By Margaret Padilla
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According to the results of a survey conducted by Social Weather Station (SWS) from December 12 to 16, 2021, 24.7 percent, or 11 million, of the Philippines’ 44.5 million labor force were unemployed as of last Thursday (April 28).
However, the figures, according to Sonny Africa, executive director of the Ibon Foundation, a local think tank, “are nothing impressive.”
He expressed concern that the government had failed to recognize that having one out of every three Filipinos unemployed was a serious employment issue.
It also had one of the world’s highest unemployment rates, as reported by Phil. Daily Inquirer. According to World Bank data, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, the average unemployment rate in Southeast Asia was only 2.9 percent. It was nearly a quarter of a percent or one in every three.
The SWS survey also said that the Philippines’ unemployment rate in 2022 was higher than that of three World Bank member countries in 2020.
Meanwhile, Malacañang said that the reduction in unemployment is a clear indication of the effectiveness of the government’s management of the COVID-19 pandemic.