The number of unemployed Filipinos declined to 5.2 percent in July this year, according to the latest report from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released on Thursday, Sept. 8.
The PSA's July 2022 Labor force survey shows that the 5.2 percent translates to 2.60 million jobless Filipinos, a lower figure compared to 6 percent or 2.99 million jobless Filipinos recorded last June.
The figure in July is also lower than the 3.23 million reported number of unemployed individuals recorded in July last 2021.
Meanwhile, PSA reported that underemployment in July rose to 13.8 percent, equivalent to 6.54 million Filipinos.
The underemployed figure in July 2022 is higher than the 5.89 million last June but lower than the 8.77 million reported in July last year.
“Underemployed persons are employed persons who expressed the 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,” PSA said.
About 9.0 percent were recorded in visible underemployment rate or portions of employed persons working less than 40 hours in a week.
The visible underemployment figure in July 2022 is higher than the 8.5 percent recorded rate last June but lower than the 11.0 percent recorded in July last year.
The top subsectors with the largest decrease in employment recorded were manufacturing; education; human health and social work activities; mining and quarrying; and information and communication.
The regions with high unemployment recorded are as follows: National Capital Region (NCR) with 6.9 percent; Region IV-A - CALABARZON with 6.3 percent; Region VI - Western Visayas with 6.0 percent, Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) with 5.6 percent, and Region X - Northern Mindanao with 5.3 percent
PSA said the labor force participation rate (LFPR) was 65.2 percent in July this year, which translates to 49.99 million Filipinos in the age bracket of 15 years and older who were either employed or unemployed.
The LFPR in July was the second highest rate this year after March at 65.4 percent.
A large employment increase was seen in the following subsectors: wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles; agriculture and forestry; accommodation and food service activities; administrative and support service activities; and construction.
