Blame catastrophes for increase in jobless Filipinos, says Palace

Filipinos’ perception that the unemployment rate went up in 2013 is “understandable” because of the string of calamities that struck the country last year, Malacañang said on Monday.

“Based on the three calamities that beset this country—the earthquake, the disrupted economic activity in Bohol, the Zamboanga incident which also disrupted [the economy], as well as the whole swath of territory that was affected by Typhoon Yolanda—the unemployment factor increase was understandable,” Palace spokesman Edwin Lacierda said of the results of a recent survey by Social Weather Stations (SWS).