Eastern Visayas registered a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 60.1 percent in July 2023.
This placed the region’s labor force at 1.98 million persons who were either employed or unemployed out of the estimated 3.30 million population 15 years old and over.
Eastern Visayas’ unemployment rate peaked at 5.1 percent in July 2023, higher by
0.9 percentage point than the 4.2 percent unemployment rate in April 2023.
The 5.1 percent unemployment rate was equivalent to around 101,000 persons in the labor force who were unemployed in July 2023, higher by about 11,000 unemployed persons compared with the 90,000 unemployed persons in April 2023.
The 5.1 percent unemployment rate in July 2023 was also higher compared with the 4.5 percent unemployment rate in July 2022 which was equivalent to 96,000 unemployed persons.
Eastern Visayas ranked fifth among the regions in the country with a high unemployment rate, during the period in review.
The region’s employment rate in July 2023 decreased to 94.9 percent, from
95.8 percent in April 2023.
The 94.9 percent employment rate translates to about 1.88 million employed persons out of the 1.98 million persons in the labor force in July 2023.
This number was lower by about 177,000 employed persons compared with the 2.06 million employed persons reported in April 2023.
Furthermore, the number of employed persons in July 2023 was lower by around 130,000 persons than the estimated 2.01 million employed persons in July 2022.
Eastern Visayas registered the fifth lowest employment rate among the regions in the country in July 2023.
Underemployed persons are employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.
The underemployment rate in July 2023 was posted at 25.3 percent or about 477,000 persons out of around 1.88 million employed persons in July 2023.
The 25.3 percent underemployment rate was 7.4 percentage points higher than the rate in April 2023 at 18.0 percent.
This was also higher by 9.3 percentage points compared with the 16.0 percent underemployment rate registered in July 2022.
Eastern Visayas recorded the second highest underemployment rate among the regions in the country in July 2023, even higher than the 15.9 percent national estimate.(PR)
Our Chinese neighbors looking at our yard
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR III
Familiar with the childhood games we play where we sometimes steal guava fruits from our neighbors yard? We sometimes took the liking of plucking the plump balimbin and tambis , from our neighbors walled backyard. Yet these are childhood games.
Today however, we are looking at a big and muscle-bound neighbor almost ready to take over and acquire our seas and land. He occasionally take pinch and a push to our fishermen and has the temerity to complain, even when he is a behemoth used and expert in the land grabbing or reclaiming.
Sadly, we are in this together, including the sympathizers and the former and presently tenured politicians who was so cozy with the bully. In a good note, the politicians who almost sold our sovereignty and was so vocal in singing praises to the bully are off the organizational charts and the remnants are in silent mode as the popularity is now, rightfully, in spiraling decline.
The invasion mode of China in the Philippines is a topic that has been discussed and debated by many experts, analysts, and media outlets. China has been accused of violating the Philippines’ sovereignty and territorial rights in the West Philippine Sea (also known as the South China Sea), where it has built artificial islands, militarized features, and deployed naval and coast guard vessels. China claims almost the entire sea as its own, based on its historical “nine-dash line” that was rejected by an international tribunal in 2016.
Concerns concerning China’s invasion strategy have been raised by a number of recent incidents, including:
On December 14, 2023, Chinese ships at Ayungin or Second Thomas Shoal were spotted in “invasion” mode after upsetting a Philippine resupply mission in the same waters the previous weekend. Under various names, China and the Philippines both claim the disputed feature known as Ayungin.
Former AFP Chief of Staff Bautista declared that Chine would readily sieze the Philippines in the event that they go to war with the US.
Slowly, as President Bongbong Marcos observed, the Chinese inch closer to our shore, as if ready to devour us .
To me, they are the neighbors who would like to steal our fruits from our trees and annex our land for the resources they can squeeze from it. And that , whether we like it or not, is an inconvenient truth and a wake up call for all.