THE Philippines’ unemployment rate dipped to 4.3 percent in May – the second lowest rate seen since April 2005.
This was lower than the 4.5 percent jobless rate in April and the 6 percent rate recorded in May last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority said yesterday.
For May, there were 2.17 million Filipinos who were unemployed, which was lower than the 2.26 million jobless workers seen in April and the 2.93 million jobless in May 2022.
In May, the country also saw the third lowest number of unemployed Filipinos since April 2005 – after the 2.04 million recorded unemployed in October 2016 and 2.05 million in October 2019.
The underemployment rate also dipped to 11.7 percent in May from 12.9 percent in April.
“The underemployment rate in May 2023 was the second lowest since April 2005 with March 2023 underemployment rate of 11.2 percent as the lowest,” the PSA said.
The underemployed are defined by the PSA as workers who already have a job but are still looking for more work hours or other employment.
“Wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 60.5 percent of the total employed persons in May 2023,” the PSA said.
Self-employed persons, meanwhile, stood at 28.1 percent and unpaid family workers at 9.2 percent.
Employees in private establishments made up 46.5 percent of the total employed persons, followed by employees in government or government-controlled corporations with 8.8 percent share.
Wages in the National Capital Region were recently raised by P40 per day, which some labor groups decried as not enough. Business groups meanwhile warned that it will impact small businesses, and may weigh on the economy.
The country’s economy grew 6.4 percent in the first quarter.
Inflation meanwhile continued to ease for a fifth straight month settling at 5.4 percent in June.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said they will monitor data to see if the El Niño will have an impact on jobs in the agriculture sector.
He noted that more people were employed in agriculture in May.
“Ang pagtaas niya talaga ay dahil nga nagkaroon ng (The number of jobs rose because of the) planting season. Sa agriculture and forestry, may dagdag tayo na about 1.25 million year-on-year, and ang top sources nito…ay growing of vegetables, mga 274,00;, growing of paddy rice, mga 224,000; growing of banana, 218,000.”
“We will track lalo na ‘yung July, dahil ‘yun ang start, as declared by PAGASA, na ‘yun nga ang simula ng El Niño,” he said.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government will continue to push for reforms to improve the country’s business investment climate, thereby sustaining labor market gains.
He said among the government’s top priorities is improving the ease of doing business and encouraging innovation to attract more investments to the Philippines.
Balisacan also encouraged workers to enroll in upskilling programs to prepare for the jobs of the future. (ABS-CBN News)
