THE country’s employment rate in September was 96.3 percent, up from 95.5 percent in the same month in 2023 and 96.0 percent in August 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said yesterday.
The number of employed Filipinos went up to 49.87 million in September this year from 47.67 million last year and 49.15 million last August, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a briefing.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, dropped to 3.7 percent from 4.5 percent in September last year and 4.0 percent in August this year.
Mapa said industries with the largest increase in employment included the administrative and support service activities (+735,000), other service activities (+559,000), wholesale and retail trade (+486,000), public administration and defense (+333,000), and manufacturing (+200,000).
The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) was estimated at 65.7 percent, or about 51.77 million Filipinos aged 15 and higher who were employed or unemployed, up from 49.93 million in September last year.
Mapa said more female workers joined the labor market for the third consecutive month.
“Ang story lang talaga is first, year-on-year, you have a substantial increase in the labor market, ‘yong consider as employed which is about 2.21 million ‘yong ating increase,” said Mapa.
“Dito sa employed persons, year-on-year, ang karamihan dito actually ay female workers. Doon sa 2.21 million, ang number nila ay 1.34 million,” he added.
The female LFPR improved to 55.7 percent from 53.4 percent, with fewer women citing household duties as a hindrance to being economically active.
The number of unemployed Filipinos was estimated at 1.89 million, lower than the 2.26 million in September 2023 and 2.07 million in August 2024.
The number of underemployed, or those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an extra job or to have a new job with longer work hours, stood at 5.94 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 11.9 percent, up from the 10.7 percent in September last year and 11.2 percent in August. (PNA)
