Quality of jobs in PH continues to improve as more Filipinos are engaged in formal and stable work

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto has underscored that the quality of jobs in the Philippines has continued to improve as more Filipinos are engaged in formal and stable work—representing the largest portion of the employed workforce in the country, according to the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) results.

The LFS showed that the country recorded a total number of 45.9 million employed individuals in January 2024, the majority of which (30.8 million or 67.1%) were wage and salary workers mostly coming from private establishments.

This improvement in the quality of jobs is also reflected in the decline of the underemployment rate, which dropped to 13.9% in January 2024 compared to 14.1% in the same month last year.

“Wage and salary workers enjoy more stable employment conditions, including perks such as health insurance and social welfare benefits. The fact that they are continuously increasing and accounting for the largest share of employed persons in the country indicates that the majority of our workforce is engaged in formal jobs,” the Finance Chief said.

More than half of the total employment in January 2024 was provided by services (60.2%) followed by agriculture (21.4%) and industry (18.4%).

Meanwhile, the top sub-sectors that recorded annual increases in the number of employed persons in January 2024 were construction; transportation and storage; administrative and support service activities; and fishing and aquaculture.

Overall, the employment rate rose to 95.5% in January from 95.2% in the same month in 2023.

This brought the unemployment rate to drop to 4.5% from 4.8% in the same month of the previous year, indicating sustained improvement in the labor market as more Filipinos are being hired.

While the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR), or the estimate of an economy’s active workforce, slightly dropped to 61.1% in January 2024 compared to 64.5% in January 2023, this could be attributed to a decrease in youth LFPR due to return to schooling.

Strategies to boost the quantity and quality of employment

The Department of Finance (DOF) has the Growth-Enhancing Actions and Resolutions or GEARs plan in place to ensure that the country is on track to achieve a