Analysis of the Macroeconomic Environment in the Philippines Essay

Today, as of the second quarter of the 2013, the Philippines’ sees unemployment at the rate of 7.5%, an increase from the 1st quarters 7.1%. Even with this slight upward movement, the country is still below its average in the past decade of 8.6%. In the latest results of the April 2013 Labor Force Survey (LFS), the National Statistics Office reported that the number of agricultural workers decreased from an estimated 12.47 million in April 2012 to 11.84 million in April 2013, this, mostly due to extreme weather conditions. Combined with the increase in the number of graduates in 2013, this has contributed to our growing labor force. The total number of employed persons in April of 2013 is estimated at 37 819 million compared to 37 840 million in April of 2012. While employment in the agriculture sector had dropped, employment in the industry sector and services sector grew by 3.8 % and by 1.9 %, respectively Laborers and unskilled workers comprised the biggest group making up one-third, 32.6 % of the total employed persons. Further statistics show the overall unemployment picture to be the ff: Males make 61.4 % while females, 38.6 % of the unemployed. By age, 15-24 made up 48.2% of the total unemployed, while the age group 25-34, made 30.9%. In education, about one-fifth, 21.3 % of the unemployed were college graduates, 14.6 % were college undergraduates, and 31.7 % were high school graduates. Minimum wage in the Philippines as of November 1, 2012 to the present is at the highest in the NCR at P456. These can be further segmented into regions and sectors. Overall wages in the Philippines’ has been slightly decreasing (drop 236 index points as of data presented as of 2012). Even with this, we see in a slow decrease in overall wages in the country (Figure 6) Poverty in the Philippines has shown an upward trend in the past few years moving from 6703 in 2006 to 9385 last 2012. At the same time, the poverty incidence among families moved slightly downward to 22.3in 2012 from a 23.4 in 2006. Overall, in the past few years we have seen some improvements in terms of overall employment the Philippines Employed individuals are seeing movement upward as well as seeing an overall increase in available jobs. Even with the available work in the Philippines, we still see those with vocational training and college training edging high school graduates for the opportunities. Amidst these trends, the wages have fluctuated from being flat or slightly decreasing. Even with this, GDP has steadily increased throughout the years. (as well as GNP and GDP per capita) We have seen some good economic growth in the Philippines in the past few years, eve n with the slight drop in wages and increased numbers in underemployment. We can thus suggest that wages and economic performance might not be as correlated as we think.