Millions of college-level students are graduating or have graduated again at this time of the year. Millions of Filipinos, then, will be added to the labor workforce and, if available jobs are not enough to absorb them, would surely increase the country’s unemployment rate.
As of the latest quarter, the Philippine unemployment rate stands at 7.10%. This translates to more than 2.89 million Filipinos without work.
It surely is high. In fact, the Philippines has the highest jobless rate in Southeast Asia. Our nearest neighbors Thailand, in contrast, only has 0.83% unemployment rate while Singapore registered an unemployment rate of 1.80%.
The silver lining is that ours apparently is still not that critically severe compared to the jobless rates in other countries.
Worse in Africa
Unemployment is worse in the African region, where more than half of the population is left with no work. Djibouti has the highest recorded unemployment rate at 59.5%, followed by Namibia (51.2%) and Congo (50.3%).
Big economies also suffer from relatively high unemployment. The United States recorded unemployment at 7.60% as of March 2013, while the United Kingdom has 7.80% jobless rate.
In contrast, Japan‘s unemployment rate is 4.30% while China‘s jobless rate is steady at 4.10%
Bad in Europe
Europe is still reeling from a crisis that has affected various Eurozone members, with several countries registering double-digit unemployment rates. Greece, one of the hardest-hit by the crisis in Europe, has a 27.20% unemployment rate as of February 2013.
In Spain, one out of four people (26.02%) is unemployed. In Italy, the jobless rate is 11.60% while the unemployment rate in Germany is 5.40%.
To learn more about the Euro crisis, read the following posts:
- The “Greek Debt Crisis” explained
- Cyprus Financial Crisis: A simple explanation
- UK sovereign credit rating downgraded by Moody’s
- Top 10 Countries with High Unemployment Rates (2011)
Below is a summary of the unemployment rates in select countries around the world.
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in South, Southeast Asia and Australia
[TABLE=232]
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in Northeast Asia
[TABLE=236]
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in Europe
[TABLE=234]
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in North and Central America
[TABLE=233]
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in South America
[TABLE=237]
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in the Middle East
[TABLE=238]
Unemployment (Jobless) Rates in Africa
[TABLE=235]
Source: CIA World Factbook
