The National Statistics Office’s report of an improved employment situation, in which nine out of 10 in the labor force had jobs, cannot conceal the worst jobs crisis in the country’s history, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

The National Statistics Office’s report of an improved employment situation, in which nine out of 10 in the labor force had jobs, cannot conceal the worst jobs crisis in the country’s history, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

According to the January Labor Force Survey, the employment rate rose to 92.2% from 91.9% in the same period last year, while unemployment fell to 7.8% from 8.1 percent. But IBON research head Sonny Africa said that underemployment still remains high at 21.5% or some 7.2 million

Filipinos still looking for additional work. Coupled with 2.8 million unemployed Filipinos, this means that 10 million workers, or close to a third of the labor force, were either jobless or if employed, still looking for more work.

Moreover, the actual joblessness situation was further obscured by a convenient change in the definition of unemployment (which was implemented April 2005) that reduces the actual number of unemployed by around 1 to 1.5 million and the unemployment rate by between two to three percentage points.

Africa said that the failure of the Arroyo administration to create regular and productive jobs was further highlighted by how the employment of people working as domestic household help increased to 5.6% in January 2007 from 4.9% in the same period last year while employment in the manufacturing sector fell to 9.1% from 9.3 percent.

These figures highlight the continuing gap between the Arroyo administration’s economic hype and the harsh realities of life on the ground that millions of Filipinos continue to endure, Africa said.

Income gap widens: RP’s wealthiest grew richer under Arroyo term

The gap between the unimaginable wealth of the country’s richest families and the poorest households highlights the yawning income inequalities that further widened under the Arroyo administration, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.

The richest 20% of the population account for 53% of the income pie while the bottom 20% get only 4.63. The poorest 30% of the country’s families, some 4.9 million, had a combined income of P177 billion, according to the 2003 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES). This was half of the total net worth of the Philippines’ richest: Jaime Zobel and hisfamily, Lucio Tan and Henry Sy.

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