MANILA, Philippines—The good news is
that more Filipinos had jobs in 2011 than in 2010 and the unemployment rate fell slightly to
7 percent from 7.3, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said in a report
released Thursday. The bad news, however, is that there were more workers in
search of a second job or longer hours to earn more, as the underemployment rate grew from
18.8 percent in 2011 to 19.3 percent in 2011.
Underemployed workers are employed
persons who express the desire for longer hours in their current work or to
find an additional job, or a new job with longer working hours. Of the
total underemployed, 59 percent were reported as visibly underemployed or
working less than 40 hours during the reference week. Those working 40 hours
or more accounted for 39.4
percent of the total underemployed.
Among those employed, more than half
(52.2 percent) were engaged
in the services sector; about one-third (33 percent) were in agriculture; and
one in every seven (14.9 percent) was in the industry sector. Among those
employed in the services sector, the largest group consisted of workers in
the wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and
personal and household goods, making up 20 percent of the total employed
population.
Among the various occupation groups,
laborers and unskilled workers comprised
the largest group (32.6 percent). This was followed by farmers, forestry
workers and fishermen (15.4 percent); officials of the government and special
interest organizations, corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors
and supervisors (14 percent) and service workers and shop and market sales
workers (11.1 percent). The rest of the occupation groups each comprised less
than 10 percent, ranging from 0.4 to 7.4 percent.
The majority of the employed persons were wage and salary workers
(55.2 percent). Most of them worked in private establishments (41.5 percent
of the total employed). About 30 percent of the employed persons were
self-employed workers without any paid employee while almost four percent
were employers in their own family-operated business or farm. Nearly 12
percent worked without pay in their own family-operated farm or
business.
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VOCABULARY
1. Unemployment (n) –
state of being unemployed (jobless, out of work)
2. Underemployment (n) -
the condition in which people in a labor force are employed at less than
full-time or regular jobs or at jobs inadequate with respect to their training
or economic needs.
3. Accounted (v) –
counted, rated, totalled
4. Engaged (v) - done
or to became involved in an activity; employed
5. Comprise (v) - to
consist of particular parts, groups etc:
6. Majority (n) - most
of the people or things in a group
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. What is the rate of
unemployment in your country?
2. Is it easy for
people in your country to find a job recently?
3. How many hours /
week do you work? (regular/overtime)
4. Talk about part time
job / full time job.
5. Do you like to
change your job? Why?
