Unemployed Filipinos dip in August

THE unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 percent in August from 4.8 percent in July, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.

It is also lower than the 5.3 percent in August of 2022, the PSA said.

This translates to 2.21 million unemployed Filipinos, 60,000 less than July's 2.27 million and 2.68 million in August of last year, reflecting a year-on-year drop of 470,000 unemployed individuals.

Meanwhile, underemployment — which counts those looking for more work or an extra job — declined to 11.7 percent from 15.9 percent in July and was higher than August 2022's underemployment rate of 14.7 percent.

The number of underemployment was equivalent to 5.53 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 PSA saw an uptick in the employment rate by 95.6 percent in August from 95.2 percent in the previous month. This is also higher than the 94.7 percent recorded in the same month last year.

In August 2023, the number of individuals with jobs reached 48.07 million, as opposed to 44.63 million in July. The figure for employed individuals in August 2022 stood at 47.87 million.

The country's Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in August 2023 increased to 64.7 percent from 60.1 percent in July but lower than the 66.1 percent in August 2022.