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Unemployment
here pegged at 7.1%
The
National Statistics Office (NSO) has estimated
the unemployment rate for Catanduanes at 7.1
percent based on the survey conducted before the
political crisis which hit the country in the
last quarter of 2000.
Results
of the October 2000 Labor Force Survey which
were released last week shows that the number of
unemployed persons totalled 7,000, a significant
decrease from 1999's 10,000 idle persons.
While
the unemployment figure improved from the low of
14.3% in July 2000, the visible underemployment
rate dipped to 37.2 percent, higher by 3
percentage points compared to last year's
figure. This means 37.2 percent of employed
persons want more hours of work.
On
the other hand, the survey posted a provincial
employment rate of 92.9 percent, a significant
increase of 2.9 percent over the 90% recorded
during the same period last year.
However,
the number of employed persons dipped from
95,000 in October 1999 to 87,000 a year later.
It is the lowest estimate in four quarters of
2000.
The
same survey also found that the labor force of
Catanduanes stood at 94,000, lower by 11,000
than the previous year, while the number of
persons who were not in the labor force like
housewives, students, disabled and retired
persons and those who did not look for work
declined to 39,000.
It
estimated the Labor Force Participation Rate (LPFR)
at 70.5 percent, up from 68.6 percent in October
1999. The LPFR is the proportion of those in the
labor force to the total population 15 years old
and over.
In
a related development, the NSO said that the
provincial inflation rate declined from 3.7
percent in December 2000 to 3.2 percent in
January 2001, with inflationary effects noted in
Services (11.6%), Fuel, Light & Water
(7.3%), Miscellaneous (4.5%), Food, Beverage
& Tobacco (2.4%), and Clothing (1.8%).
The
Consumer Price Index showed a slight increment
of 0.1 percent, from 166.7 in December 2000 to
166.8 in January 2001. As a result, the
purchasing power of the peso for Catanduanes
remained at P0.60. This means that the 1994 peso
is worth just 60 centavos in 2001, having lost
40 percent of its value in seven years.
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