DESPITE the improvement in employment numbers, the number of unpaid family workers increased in March 2023, according to the preliminary results of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
On Monday, PSA said the number of unemployed Filipinos declined by 461,000 to 2.42 million in March 2023 from the 2.88 million posted in March 2022. On a month-on-month basis, there was a decline of 58,000 from the 2.47 million posted in February 2023.
However, data obtained from the PSA showed there were 4.324 million workers without pay in their own family-operated farm or business in March 2023. This is 424,000 higher than the 3.901 million posted in March 2022.
“Passing major economic liberalization reforms is a critical first step [to sustainably raise wages and improve worker welfare],” National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said. He also emphasized that the government is addressing persistent issues and constraints to improving labor productivity and high-quality job generation.
Data from PSA showed that of the 4.324 million workers who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business, some 2.72 million were women and 1.61 million were men.
There was an increase of 373,000 women who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business in March 2023 from the 2.342 million recorded in March 2022.
Among the men, the data showed there was also an increase of 51,000 in March 2023 from the 1.558 million recorded in March 2022.
However, there was an improvement compared to February 2023. There was a reduction of 468,000 among the workers who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business in March 2023 compared to the 4.79 million in February 2023.
Among women, the number of those who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business in March 2023 was 209,000 less, compared to the 2.924 million in February 2023.
For men, there was a larger reduction of 259,000 among those who worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or business in March 2023 from the 1.868 million posted in February 2023.
“In a region where our neighbors are also aggressively competing for investments, we must leverage on these changes to the country’s policy regime by ensuring that we urgently address on-the-ground concerns related to the ease of doing business,” Balisacan said in a bid to improve worker’s welfare.
“Investors must not be kept waiting—we must create an enabling regulatory environment that makes it easy for them to set up shop, expand, and generate the high-quality jobs we need,” he added.
Quality of employment
Meanwhile, Neda stressed the quality of employment in the country has reflected significant gains, particularly on a year on year basis.
The underemployment rate in March 2023 went down to 11.2 percent from 15.8 percent in the same month last year, the lowest underemployment rate reported since April 2005.
Efforts to sustain these gains, Balisacan said, include the government’s pursuit of infrastructure projects through the Infrastructure Flagship Projects or IFPs under the Build-Better-More program.
Significant and sustained improvements in human capital will be needed to complement the productivity gains from investments in physical capital, Neda said.
“Improving the country’s health, nutrition, and education-related outcomes will be key to maintaining the competitiveness of the country’s labor force relative to those of its Southeast Asian neighbors,” Balisacan said.
“Investments in human capital will ensure that the growing working-age population will be able to maximize the job, market, and technological opportunities made available to it and allow the country to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend,” he added.
Establishing a dynamic innovation ecosystem that encourages businesses to introduce new products and processes to the market is also expected to create better-paying job opportunities in higher value-added industries and on Advancing Research and Development, Technology, and Innovation.
Also crucial will be collaboration among government agencies, training institutions, technology providers, and other stakeholders to explore and utilize new technologies toward upskilling and reskilling on digital technology and innovations, as embodied in the Philippine Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act (RA 11927).
“Regulatory reforms, strategic investments in human capital, a flourishing innovation ecosystem—these are some of the much-needed elements that will enable us to sustain the gains we see in our labor market as we work towards raising overall welfare and meeting our medium-term socioeconomic goals,” Balisacan added.
PSA said wage and salary workers continued to contribute the largest share of employed persons with 61.6 percent of the total employed population 15 years old and over in March 2023.
This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.6 percent and unpaid family workers at 8.9 percent. Employers in their own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 1.9 percent.
Among wage and salary workers, employed persons in private establishments made up 47.5 percent of the total employed, followed by employed in government or government-controlled corporations with 9.2 percent share.
