The country’s unemployment rate declined to a three-month low of 4.4 percent in August 2023 from 4.8 percent in July, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.
National statistician and civil registrar-general Dennis Mapa said in an online briefing the August unemployment rate was also lower than 5.3 percent a year ago.
“In terms of magnitude, there were 2.21 million unemployed Filipinos aged 15 years and over in August 2023,” Mapa said. It was also lower than the 2.27 million unemployed in July 2023 and 2.68 million a year earlier.
The number of employed persons aged 15 years and over in August 2023 increased to 48.07 million from 47.87 million in August 2022 and 44.63 million a month ago. This translated to 95.6 percent employment rate, higher than 94.7 percent in August 2022 and 95.2 percent in July 2023, respectively.
Mapa said the labor force participation rate (LFPR) reached 64.7 percent in August, lower than 66.1 percent a year ago, but higher than 60.1 percent in July 2023.
The underemployment rate also fell from 14.7 percent in August 2022 and 15.9 percent in July 2023 to 11.7 percent in August this year. This was equivalent to 1.4 million fewer underemployed persons, particularly among those employed in the services and industry sectors.
Underemployed persons are those who have expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.
“Total employment increased by 203,000 in the agriculture and industry sectors. Apart from the decline in underemployment, several other indicators point to an accompanying increase in the quality of employment, including the increase in wage and salary, and full-time employment, and the decline in vulnerable and part-time employment,” Mapa said.
Mapa said much remained to be done as the number of middle- and high-skilled occupations decreased (-354,000), while low-skilled occupations increased (+551,000) compared to the previous year.
The National Economic and Development Authority said the Marcos administration is committed to generating high-quality and high-paying job opportunities for workers.
“To raise the quality of employment further, the Marcos administration is committed to exerting all efforts to shape an attractive business climate for investors who have the resources needed to bring in high-quality and high-paying jobs,” NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
Balisacan cited recent developments, such as the Senate’s approval of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Act and the launch of the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document (NIASD) 2023-2032, that are expected to open greater opportunities for the Philippine labor market.
Passed by the Senate of the Philippines after its third and final reading on Sept. 25, 2023, the PPP Act aims to establish a stable and predictable environment for collaboration between the public and private sectors by reducing transaction costs and improving the ease of doing business for PPPs.
The NIASD 2023-2032, approved by the National Innovation Council chaired by the President on June 30, and launched on Sept. 27, 2023, contains strategies to improve innovation governance in the country, including capacitating innovation actors with the necessary resources and skills.
“The PPP Act is a welcome development for investors as it clarifies long-standing ambiguities that have hindered the implementation of several projects that are expected to create better job opportunities,” Balisacan said.
Meanwhile, the NIASD will serve as the government’s blueprint for establishing a dynamic innovation ecosystem, comprising a Filipino workforce equipped with 21st century skills to enhance their employability,” he said.
The average weekly hours worked of an employed person in August 2023 was 40.8 hours. This was higher than the average weekly hours worked in August 2022 (40.5 hours), but lower than the average weekly hours worked in July 2023 (42.3 hours).
By broad industry group, the services sector remained as the top sector in terms of the number of employed persons with a share of 3 percent to the total employed persons in August 2023. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 24.5 percent and 18.2 percent, respectively.
The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons in August 2023 were fishing and aquaculture (572,000); construction (534,000); agriculture and forestry (378,000); human health and social work activities (153,000); and administrative and support service activities (143,000).
The five sub-sectors that had the highest annual drop in the number of employed persons were wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-1.21 million); public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-228,000); financial and insurance activities (-197,000); information and communication (-134,000); and mining and quarrying (-89,000).
Unemployment rate averaged 8.59 percent from 1986 until 2022, reaching an all-time high of 17.60 percent in June 2020 at the height of the strict lockdowns during the pandemic.
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