Unemployment, underemployment rate in October fall to lowest since 2005 —PSA

Unemployment rate in the Philippines reached a 14-year low in October as more individuals were employed during the period, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday.

PSA data indicated that the employment rate was estimated at 95.5% in October, up from 94.9% during the same month last year.

This brought the unemployment rate to 4.5%, which compares with 5.1% recorded in October 2018.

"Unemployment is the lowest across all quarters since 2005," National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa told reporters in Manila.

Mapa said the PSA considered 2005 as the base, since that was the year the government introduced a change in the definition of key terms in the Labor Force Participation Survey.

Under the current definitions, employed persons are classified as either full-time (those who work for 40 hours or more during the reference week) or part-time workers (those who worked for less than 40 hours).

In the same briefing, Mapa said the underemployment rate dropped to 13.0% in October from 13.3% during the same month last year.

This translates to 5.62 million individuals, higher than the 5.50 million individuals in the comparable period last year.

The PSA defines underemployed as employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours or work in their present job, or to have additional jobs, or to have a new job with longer working hours.

"The numbers actually is due to the higher Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR)," Mapa explained, as the LFPR increased to 61.5% from 60.6% last year.

Mapa said the underemployment rate is also the lowest since April 2005, when it was registered at 26.1%. —KBK, GMA News