De Guzman wrongly claims 10M Pinoys jobless

Yung problema niyo ay produkto ng sampung milyong manggagawang walang trabaho ngayon, kaya't ang lawak ng choice ng mga kapitalista na pumili ng mga bata, ng mga graduate at hindi mga may edad na (Your problem is a product of 10 million unemployed persons today; that’s why capitalists have a wide range of choices among the youth, the graduates, and not from the older ones).

— Leodigario “Leody” de Guzman, Harapan 2019: The ABS-CBN Senatorial Town Hall Debate, March 3, 2019

Senatorial candidate Leody de Guzman’s claim on the number of jobless Filipinos is false.

The 10 million figure he gave at a television debate is not supported by Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data: There are 2.29 million unemployed persons as of January 2019. It was 2.32 million in January 2018.

PSA data on unemployed Filipinos per age group, however, support De Guzman’s claim that employers have a large pool of fresh graduates and young Filipinos candidates to tap.

The youngest group (15-24 years old) represents 43.7 percent of unemployed Filipinos.

References

ABS-CBN News. (2019). Harapan 2019: The ABS-CBN senatorial town hall debate | 3 March 2019 (evening). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dOSTBI9YYk&t=4241s (watch (1:10:24-1:10:40)

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2019) Employment rate in January 2019 is estimated at 94.8 percent. Retrieved from http://www.psa.gov.ph/content/employment-rate-january-2019-estimated-948-percent?fbclid=IwAR3GmCd736ZdCkC4ZoW8C9kjXysQCmXpBaUmAVhocT3L86cskVZwUh0rd_o

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2018). Employment situation in January 2018 (Final Results). Retrieved from http://www.psa.gov.ph/content/employment-situation-january-2018-final-results?fbclid=IwAR2oS21T10F4ec1AJMh1GMWAkrlNb15tu_tYYaxcXClL9csYDhbMQPZ-OG4

Philippine Statistics Authority. (2019). Underemployed persons by hours worked and sector, and unemployed persons by age group, sex and highest grade completed [Excel file]. Retrieved from http://www.psa.gov.ph/system/files/TABLE%203%20%20%20Underemployed%20Persons%20by%20Hours%20Worked%20and%20Sector%2C%20and%20Unemployed%20Persons%20%20by%20Age%20Group%2C%20Sex%20and%20Highest%20Grade%20Completed_0.xlsx

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