Slight hike in CV employment rate

Central Visayas posted a slight increase in its employment rate from 87.2 percent in July last year to 88 percent this year, but its unemployment rate remains high.

Although unemployment rate in the region dropped from 12.8 percent to 12 percent this year, it ranks third among regions in the country with high unemployment rate, according to the latest Labor Force Survey conducted by the National Statistics Office.

National Capital Region has most number of unemployed persons with 18.4 percent, followed by Region IV-A with 13.6 percent, Region III with 12.5 percent and Region VII (Central Visayas) with 12 percent.

But Central Visayas' 88 percent employment rate lags behind other regions, as it only ranked fourth among the regions with lowest number of employed persons.

Department of Labor and Employment regional director Rodolfo Sabulao said the good business atmosphere in Central Visayas and the jobs fair that they have conducted contributed to the rise in the number of employed persons.

Sabulao said that another factor for the decrease in the unemployment rate in the region was the adoption of the new international definition of unemployment.

The figures were also based on the new official unemployment definition, which was adopted starting in April. The new definition introduced the "availability for work" as the third criterion in defining the unemployed.

He added that those persons, who do not have jobs and do not wish to work, are not included on the list of the unemployed.