Philippine jobless rate eased to 4.5% in October

MANILA (Philippine Daily Inquirer/Asia News Network): The number of unemployed people in the Philippines decreased to 2.24 million in October from 3.5 million a year ago, with 1.26 million escaping joblessness this year amid record high inflation.

Preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest labor force survey released on Wednesday (Dec 7) showed that the unemployment rate eased to 4.5 per cent in October, lower than the 7.4 per cent in October 2021 and the 5 per cent in September.

The employment rate in October rose to 95.5 per cent, from 95 per cent in the previous month. This, according to the PSA, was the highest rate recorded since January 2020. It meant there were 47.11 million employed Filipinos in October, up from 43.82 million in the same period last year.

The number of underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional work hours in their present job or to have an additional job was at 6.67 million or an underemployment rate of 14.2 per cent. This was lower than the 16.1 per cent in October last year and 15.4 per cent last September.