MANILA, Philippines — Unemployment rate in the country rose to 3.9 percent in October, a slight increase from 3.7 percent in September but lower than the 4.2 percent that was recorded in the same month in 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Friday.
This translates to 1.97 million unemployed Filipinos, 80,000 more than September’s 1.89 million but lower than October 2023’s 2.09 million, reflecting a year-on-year decrease of 120,000 unemployed individuals.
Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — rose to 12.6 percent, up from 11.9 percent in September and 11.7 percent a year earlier.
This is equivalent to 6.08 million people “who have expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with long hours of work.”
Employment rate, meanwhile, decreased to 96.1 percent in October from 96.3 percent in September but higher than last year’s 95.8 percent.
The number of individuals with jobs reached 48.16 million, lower than September’s 49.87 million but higher than October 2023’s 47.79 million.
The services sector continued to dominate the labor market in October in terms of the number of employed persons with a share of 61.0 percent
The country’s Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in October was registered at 63.3 percent, lower than the 65.7 percent recorded a month earlier and October 2023’s 63.9 percent.
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