Jobless rate down 3.2% in Nov

MANILA, Philippines — The country's labor market improved in November, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, as the number of unemployed Filipinos declined.

The country's unemployment rate dropped to 3.2 percent in November from 3.9 percent in October and 3.6 percent in the same month in 2023. This is the lowest rate since June last year at 3.1 percent.

This translates to 1.66 million unemployed Filipinos, 303,000 less than October's figure of 1.97 million and November 2023's 1.83 million, reflecting a year-on-year decrease of 171,000 unemployed individuals.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — dropped to 10.8 percent, down from 12.6 percent a month earlier and 11.7 percent a year earlier.

The number of underemployment was equivalent to 5.35 million. These are people «who have expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with long hours of work.»

The employment rate, meanwhile, improved to 96.8 percent, higher than the 96.1 percent recorded in the previous month and the 96.4 percent recorded in the same month in 2023.

The number of individuals with jobs reached 49.54 million, higher than October's 48.16 million but slightly lower than November 2023's 49.64 million.

The services sector continued to dominate the labor market in November in terms of the number of employed persons with a share of 62.1 percent

The country's Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in November was registered at 64.6 percent, higher than the 63.3 percent recorded a month earlier but lower than November 2023's 65.9 percent.