Arroyo's Magic Unemployment Numbers

This from a person who made the ridiculous zero unemployment rate claim during the 2004 campaign.

From the PDI:

Drop in unemployment proves admin in focus -- Arroyo

MANILA, Philippines -- The country’s employment statistics are a testimony that he has not lost her focus on giving Filipinos job opportunities, notwithstanding incessant attacks by her critics, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Friday.

In a statement, Arroyo said her decisions and policies, even the unpopular ones, are all geared towards strengthening the economy and job creation.

"This administration has been attacked on various fronts and issues, but let it not be said that we failed to give Juan de la Cruz a chance to land a good job and bring home the bacon to a healthy and adequately schooled family," she said....

Data from the National Statistics Office shows the unemployment rate dropped to 7.8 % of the labor force in January this year from 8.1 % a year ago while the underemployment rate registered 21.5 % as against 21.1 % in January last year.

Wow, 7.8%. How did they do it? From double digit unemployment in 2004 to single digit unemployment in 2005-2006? How did arroyo's mathematicians/magicians do it?

Let's hear it from Ducky Paredes, the pro-arroyo columnist for the Malaya:

according to the Ibon Foundation, the government is cheating as to the number of unemployed, What it has done is to erase from the number of unemployed those who say that, although they are actually unemployed, they have been looking for a job for more than six months. Also wiped out from the number are those who say that they do not believe that they can ever find a job.

The whole point of treating these unemployed as if they were invisible is to, again (as this administration has been doing in practically everything) to keep the truth from the rest of the world.

It even seems to me that this is the only thing that this government does with any consistency. It keeps the truth – the whole truth, part of the truth, pieces of the truth – from us. It can show that it is successful only by telling us things that are untrue and keeping what is true as far away from us as it can. Such is the nature of our present government.

kaya pala nila kayang gawin yung ganitong magic:



Not convinced? Here's Jojo Robles from the MST:

It was shortly after Neri assumed his position that the government drew a lot of flak for window-dressing the number of jobs created by no longer including those “not actively seeking work.” By pulling this rabbit out of his hat, Neri and the rest of the government’s economic team were able to show that the unemployment rate declined from 11.4 percent to 10.7 percent from 2004 to 2005.

Neri also made the outrageous claim that poverty actually declined during his watch—but only because of the absurdly low poverty treshold of per capita income. Currently, according to the National Statistics Coordinating Board, a family of five needs an annual income of P65,565. This translates to P1,092 monthly per person, which breaks down to P36 daily. No wonder the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed that despite Neri’s claims of poverty alleviation, unemployment and hunger are still rampant, with more than half of all Filipinos actually believing that life has become more difficult in recent years.

They've also put misleading population rate numbers, education numbers (students/classroom numbers). If this corrupt admin can rig elections, what makes you think it can't cook up numbers and statistics for PR and propaganda purposes?

The only survey or statistic they don't like are those that are negative against them. Like the corruption survey of PERC and Transparency International.

They can't manipulate the TI corruption survey, so they want out of the TI corruption survey rankings.

To solve the utterly dismal corruption perceptions rating of the country under President Arroyo’s administration, the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) had proposed to the global corruption watchdog Transparency International (TI) to drop the Philippines from its annual listing.

read the whole thing.

Then when the PERC corruption survay came, which listed the RP as the most corrupt country in Asia, maam arroyo blamed the opposition for cooking the PERC surveys.

No, maam arroyo, hindi ang opposition ang nagluluto ng surveys. the admin should look at itself in the mirror and see some of the window dressed statistics they've been using.