According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the unemployment rate in the country went up in July compared to the previous month. It reached 4.8%, which is higher than the 4.5% recorded in June. However, it is lower than the 5.2% from the same period last year.
This means that there are around 2.27 million Filipinos who are currently unemployed, which is 17,000 more than in April. However, it is a decrease from last year’s figure of 2.60 million, indicating that there are 329,000 fewer unemployed individuals compared to the previous year.
On the other hand, underemployment, which refers to people who are looking for more work or an additional job, increased to 15.9% in July from 12.0% in June. However, it is slightly lower than the 13.8% recorded in July 2022.
Approximately 7.10 million people are considered underemployed. These are individuals who want to work more hours in their current job, have a second job, or find a new job with longer working hours.
The employment rate, which measures the percentage of people with jobs, decreased slightly to 95.2% in July from 95.5% in the previous month. However, it is higher than the 94.8% recorded in July last year.
In July 2023, the number of employed individuals was 44.63 million, compared to 48.84 million in June. The figure for employed individuals in July 2023 stood at 47.39 million.
Source: Source: PhilNews24 | September 8, 2023
