The unemployment rate in the Philippines slightly dipped from the 4.8 percent recorded a month earlier to 4.7 percent in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Monday.
In the latest data released, 4.7 percent translates to 2.42 million Filipino workers who were jobless out of 51 million in the labor force. This was lower than the 2.47 million unemployed in February.
The underemployment rate also dropped to 11.2 percent in March, a visible decrease from the 12.9 percent recorded in February, and from 15.8 percent in March 2022.
Underemployed workers have jobs but wish to add more work hours, according to the PSA.
The state statistics bureau also noted the current underemployment rate is the "lowest unemployment rate reported since April 2005."
Meanwhile, the employment rate in March improved to 95.3 percent from 95.2 percent in the previous month. This was also higher than the 94.2 percent recorded in the same month last year.
The number of Filipinos with jobs rose to 48.58 million, posting an increase of 1.61 million from the 46.98 million employed persons in March 2022.
"The year-on-year increase in employment was driven by services and industry sectors," the PSA said in a statement.
The PSA also noted some of the major industries with the largest increases in employment for March.
This includes transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, construction, and other service activities.
The largest drops in employment meanwhile were seen in agriculture in forestry and financial and insurance activities. Manufacturing, health services, and IT also showed declines in employment.
