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Thursday, March 28, 2024

More Pinoys found jobs in 2017–SWS

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JOBLESSNESS among Filipino adults dropped to 15.7 percent or an estimated 7.2 million in the last three months of 2017, according to the latest Fourth Quarter Social Weather Stations survey released Wednesday. 

The December 2017 survey is the lowest recorded joblessness rate since the 9.8 percent in March 2004, and is 3.4 points below the 18.9 percent (or estimated 8.7 million) in September 2017, the opinion polling firm said. 

Among those who said they were jobless, those who voluntarily left their old jobs was at 8.3 percent, or an estimated 3.8-million adults; those who involuntarily lost their jobs at 5.9 percent, or an estimated 2.7-million adults; while first-time job seekers consisted of 1.5 percent or an estimated 691,000 adults. 

Meanwhile, the use of artificial intelligence in the business process outsourcing will hit “harder” in the “next three to five years,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said Wednesday, as he urged the industry to upgrade the skills of its workers.

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Voice-based services “is not not going to be necessary anymore when you have machines to do it,” Pernia told ANC’s Headstart.

According to gross domestic product data released on Tuesday, miscellaneous services, which includes BPO, grew 9.2 percent in 2017 from the previous year, compared to 19.8 percent from 2015 to 2016.

The BPO industry alone grew 12.3 percent in 2017 from 2016. 

Pernia said BPO companies with the “old mode” of human interaction were unlikely to make future investments in the Philippines.

From call centers, the BPO sector must move to big data analytics, app development and related fields, Socioeconomic Planning Usec. Rosemarie Edillon said on Tuesday.

“We are seeing that it is reaching a plateau. The way for it to grow much, much more, for it to diversify, is to grow to value added services,” Edillon said.

The BPO industry, an economic lifeline for the Philippines, employs about 1.15-million people and, along with remittances from overseas workers, remains one of the top two earners of foreign exchange.

Adult labor force participation rate, meanwhile, was at 72.1 percent, or an estimated 45.5-million adults. 

This is a one-point decrease from the 73.1 percent or an estimated 46.1-million adults in September 2017.

Asked on their optimism to have jobs in the future, some 53 percent said they were optimistic to have more jobs while pessimism that there would be fewer jobs declined to 12 percent in December—bringing a Net Optimism on Job Availability score to a new record high of “excellent” +41. 

Those who believe there will be no change in job availability, meanwhile, fell by 3 points from 27 percent in September to 24 percent in December. 

Adult joblessness among men decreased by 5.9 points to 7.6 percent in December 2017 while it slightly rose among the females by 0.2 points to 26.7 percent in December.

Across age groups, joblessness fell by 5.2 points among the 18 to 24 year olds to 45.0 percent and rose by 2.6 points among the 25-34 year olds to 23.9 percent. 

It also decreased by 2.1 points among the 35 to 44 year olds to 10.7 percent; and 5.3 points among those 45 years old and above to 8.5 percent in December.

The Palace welcomed the latest poll, claiming the administration is indeed on the “right track” in achieving sustainable and inclusive growth.

“We expect to generate more jobs with the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, which would increase infrastructure investments. Our Build-Build-Build Infrastructure Program is projected to create more than a million jobs a year,” Palace Spokesman Harry Roque said in a statement. 

The latest poll, conducted from Dec. 8 to 16 using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults, had sampling error margins of ±3 percent for national percentages. 

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