Joblessness in the Philippines ballooned to 9.8 million in the third quarter of the 2018, as per a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, whose results were released on Saturday, Nov. 10.
The survey, which was conducted from September 15 to 23, 2018, found adult joblessness among Filipinos rose to a 2.3-point increase, compared to the second quarter’s 8.6 million adults.
Of the 9.8 million Filipinos in September 2018, around 4.1 million adults were retrenched (up by 2 points from 6.8 percent in June 2018). Most of them had their contracts unrenewed by their employers.
Meanwhile, 3.7 million voluntarily left their old jobs (down by 1.1 points from 9.5% in June).
Lastly, 4.4 percent or some 2 million jobless adults are first-time job seekers who have yet to find a job (up by 1 point from 3.4%% in June).