Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Pnas ranks 30th in world’s unemployment rate as OFWs increase


By Gina Dizon

The decrease of unemployment rate in the Philippines shows a remarkable impression. From an 11% unemployment rate in 1985, this slid down to 8% in 2006 then reached a consistent 7% to the present. As the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) records reveal, the Philippines is number 30th in the world’s 77 countries with a scale of 7.2 unemployment rate as of April 2011. The country with the lowest unemployment rate is Qatar and Thailand at .5 rating.

Must be that unemployment rate has decreased in the country. There is an estimated 36.3 million employed persons in January 2011, the services sector being the largest group comprising more than half (52.5%) of the total employed population. The largest employed workforce in the services sector are in wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, motorcycles and personal and household goods. Workers in the agriculture sector account for 32.9 percent of the total employed. As to occupation groups, the laborers and unskilled workers comprise the largest group making up 31.7 percent of the total employed persons in January 2011, records from the National Statistics Office reveal.

In the world scenario, top ten countries with the least unemployment rate includes Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Switzerland, Hongkong, Denmark, and Norway aside from Qatar and Thailand with .5 to 3.8 ratings.

Interesting to note that south east countries mentioned have come to be top destinations of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) on land-based factory and domestic work.

A CNN press release notes that, "One reason why the unemployment rates in those countries are low is because they're starting to get a lot of investment that used to go to China and would have gone to China," said George T. Haley, a professor of marketing and international business at the University of New Haven and co-author of "New Asian Emperors: The Business Strategies of the Overseas Chinese."

A brief look in the Philippines notes that China is the country’s third largest trading partner and the fastest growing market for Philippine exports, China Business reports.

Since 2002, trade has grown at a yearly rate of 55%. Bilateral trade in 2006 hit a 33.6% increase. The total approved Chinese investments in the Philippines from January to September 2006 reached US$370 million—a considerable improvement over the US$3.8 million they invested in 2005, China Business reports.

China is one among the top 20 countries having the least unemployment rate including Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and New Zealand.
It’s surprising to note that United Kingdom, Canada, Belgium, Sweden and Italy which are top destinations of OFWs have increased in unemployment rate at 7.4% to 8% rating.

The most coveted country where one wants to work in and be a green card holder is the United States which has a 9.2% unemployment rate followed by France at 9.7% and Saudi Arabia at 10.7%. Ireland which is one of the countries where some OFWs go has a 14 % unemployment rate. The country with highest unemployment rate is South Africa followed by Spain at 21.3 %.

While this is the case, OFWs are still increasing, data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Authority (POEA) reveal. Of the 8.6 to 11 million OFWs representing about 11% of the total population of the country, there are 1,123,676 land-based OFWS for 2010 from 1,092,162 OFWs registered in 2009.

The countries Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Hongkong, Qatar, Singapore, Kuwait, Taiwan, Italy, Bahrain and Canada remain as top countries employing contract work for household service, nurses,caregivers, waiters, bartenders, plumbers and welders.

A quick analysis says OFWs are in need of more cash to answer for domestic, educational and housing needs which other countries provide with higher pay, despite the decreasing unemployment rate in the country.

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