PH unemployment rate eases to 5.3 percent in August

Labor market conditions slightly improved in August, with the unemployment rate easing to 5.3 percent from July’s 6 percent, latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.

In a briefing on Wednesday, National Statistician Dennis Mapa said results of the latest Labor Force Survey showed that the number of jobless Filipinos during the month decreased to 2.77 million from 3.14 million in July.

It was, however, still higher than the 3.9 percent seen in August last year.

The labor force participation rate (LFPR) also improved to 64 percent from the 63.6 percent recorded the previous month.

This translates to a total of 52.56 million Filipinos aged 15 and above who were in the labor force.

Employment, which was at 94.7 percent, also rose from July’s 94 percent.

Meanwhile, 5.90 million workers said they wanted to work more hours in their current jobs, take on additional work, or find a new job with longer hours.

The services sector accounted for the largest share of employment at 61.7 percent, followed by agriculture and industry.

Meanwhile, a total of 5.90 million expressed a 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.

This translates to an underemployment rate of 11.9 percent, lower than 12.9 percent logged in July.

Mapa said employment data is expected to further improve in the coming months boosted by increased business activities during the holiday season.

“Normally, nakita natin sa mga previous years may mga pagtaas tayo na nakikita particularly yung mga seasonal employment. So may expectations pa rin tayo na ganun pa rin (Normally, based on what we’ve seen in previous years, there are increases, particularly in seasonal employment. So, we still expect to see the same trend),” Mapa said.

“So we should be expecting more or less the same, ganun talaga pag malapit na yung Christmas, marami tying mga activities and nagkakaroon ng mga additional workers because we are seeing longer [working] hours, especially those in retail like malls and groceries (So, we should expect more or less the same. That’s usually what happens as Christmas approaches. There are more activities, and additional workers are hired because we see longer working hours, especially in retail establishments such as malls and groceries),” he added. -Philippine News Agency