Unemployment rate down in Oct but job quality worsened

Unemployment rate in the country rose to 3.9 percent in October, a slight increase from 3.7 percent in September but lower than the 4.2 percent that was recorded in the same month in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.

This translates to 1.97 million unemployed Filipinos, 80,000 more than September's 1.89 million but lower than October 2023's 2.09 million, reflecting a year-on-year decrease of 120,000 unemployed individuals.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — rose to 12.6 percent, up from 11.9 percent in September and 11.7 percent a year earlier.

This is equivalent to 6.08 million people "who have expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with long hours of work."

Employment rate, meanwhile, decreased to 96.1 percent in October from 96.3 percent in September but higher than last year's 95.8 percent.

The number of individuals with jobs reached 48.16 million, lower than September's 49.87 million but higher than October 2023's 47.79 million.

The services sector continued to dominate the labor market in October in terms of the number of employed persons with a share of 61.0 percent

The country's Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in October was registered at 63.3 percent, lower than the 65.7 percent recorded a month earlier and October 2023's 63.9 percent.

Source: Manila Times

Inflation quickens to 2.5% in November

The country’s inflation rate continued its acceleration streak for the second straight month in November due to faster rise in food and transportation costs during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

At a press conference, National Statistician and PSA chief Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa said inflation —which measures the rate of increase in the prices of goods and services— quickened further to 2.5% last month.

This was faster than the 2.3% inflation print recorded in October.

Last month’s rate also fell within the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) forecast range of 2.2% to 3%, citing increased prices of vegetables, fish, and meat due to unfavorable weather conditions, higher electricity rates and petroleum prices, and the depreciation of the peso as the primary sources of upward price pressures this month.

November’s inflation rate brought the year-to-date average inflation rate to stand at 3.2%, which is within the government’s ceiling of 2% to 4% for the entire 2024.

Food prices

The BSP, in a statement, said that the inflation rate seen in November is consistent with its assessment that inflation will continue to trend closer to the low end of the target range in the near term, reflecting easing supply pressures for key food items, particularly rice.

“Ang pangunahing dahilan ng mas mataas na antas ng inflation nitong Nobyembre 2024 kesa noong Oktubre 2024 ay ang mas mabilis na pagtaas ng presyo ng Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages sa antas na 3.4% [mula 2.9%],” Mapa said.

(The main contributor to the faster inflation rate in November 2024 versus October 2024 was the faster increase in the prices of Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages with a rate of 3.4%.)

The PSA chief added that the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages index accounted for 65.9% of the overall inflation rate last month.

In particular, the index of vegetables saw an increase to 5.9% from a decline of 9.2% in October “dahil nga sa mga sunod-sunod na bagyo (due to the series of consecutive storms).”

Likewise, inflation for fish and other seafood rose to 0.4% from a negative rate or decrease of 0.4% month-on-month.

Meat inflation also saw a slight increment of 3.9% during the month from 3.6% in October.

Food inflation, which tracks the price movements of food items in a "basket" commonly purchased by households, also rose to 3.5% from 3% month-on-month.

“Despite the strong typhoons our country faced in recent months, consumer prices have remained relatively stable. This demonstrates the resilience of our economy and the effectiveness of our policies,” National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.

Balisacan, nonetheless, noted that the government is closely monitoring prices of commodities, especially food, in the wake of successive typhoons in October and November.

Also contributing to the November inflation uptrend was Transport index with a slower decrease of 1.2% from -2.1% in the prior month, accounting for 28.4% of the overall print, amid the slower decrease in the prices of gasoline and diesel which posted inflation prints of -8% (from -11.1) and -9.4% (from -18.5%), respectively.

Inflation felt by the bottom 30% income households in the country veered away from the national trend as it slowed down to 2.9% from 3.4% month-on-month.

Mapa said this was primarily due to a decline in food inflation for the income class at 3.4% from 3.9% with the rice index easing down to a rate of 5.4% from 10.2% in October.

Full-year projection

During its December 2 meeting, the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) projected that full-year 2024 inflation would average between 3.1% to 3.3%, lower than last year’s average inflation rate of 6%.

The DBCC also maintained its inflation target of 2% to 4% from 2025 to 2028.

“We are committed to maintaining price stability by ensuring inflation remains low and manageable. This will be supported by prudent monetary policies and strategic trade measures in the near term, as well as improved access to quality job opportunities and productivity-enhancing reforms in the medium term,” said Balisacan.

The NEDA chief added that the government remains optimistic that the December inflation figures will sustain the trend of price stability and that inflation will remain within the government’s target range.

“Through the timely and strategic use of our various policy levers, a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach is vital to sustain our momentum in effectively managing inflation. Achieving this objective will be key to making economic growth more inclusive and accelerating our poverty reduction efforts,” Balisacan said.

Source: GMA

Minimum wages compared across regions in November

This infographic compares the current minimum wages set by the country’s Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board and the inflation-adjusted minimum wages as of November, based on latest data by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

While the current minimum wages are determined at the regional level to account for factors such as companies’ capacity to pay and costs of living, real wages are obtained after factoring in general price increases (i.e. inflation rates).

Inflation-adjusted wages were 12.5%-19% lower in November than their respective current salaries.

Source: Business World