Consumers expect that employment situation in the Philippines would improve in the next 12 months, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) recent survey revealed.

In its latest Consumer Expectations Survey, the central bank reported that the number of respondents who expected an increase in the unemployment rate declined relative to the previous quarter’s survey results.

The BSP said that 55.8 percent of all the respondents believe unemployment in the country would worsen in the next 12 months, or lower compared with the 64.4 percent in the fourth-quarter of 2009.

The National Statistics Office (NSO) had said the number of employed persons in January this year rose by 5 percent to 36 million, compared with the 34.3 million in January 2009.

NSO said the current employment rate is at 92.7 percent, which is slightly higher than last year at 92.3 percent.

The jobless rate in the Philippines rose in January from October as the economy failed to generate enough jobs for a growing workforce, the NSO said.

The jobless rate rose to 7.3% from 7.1% in October, though it was lower than the 7.7% posted in January last year.

The labor force survey, conducted at the start of every quarter, showed that the actual number of unemployed was 2.83 million, rising from 2.72 million in October, as the country's workforce grew to 60.2 million from 59.7 million in October.

On the other hand, the BSP survey showed that more consumers expected that prices of goods and services would increase and that inflation would accelerate during the next 12 months.

“This could develop as a result of the expected shortfall in the supply of agricultural products due to the El Niño phenomenon and the impending power rate adjustments,” BSP said.