Jobless Filipinos decline to 2.09M in October 2023

The number of Filipinos without jobs or livelihoods went down in October as the increase in economic activities at the onset of the holiday season provided job opportunities during the period, results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Labor Force Survey showed.

At a press conference on Thursday, National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa reported that the number of unemployed persons ages 15 and above decreased to 2.09 million from 2.26 million in September.

Year-on-year, the number of jobless individuals in October 2023 was lower than the 2.24 million seen in October 2022.

As a percentage of the total 49.89 million people in the labor force who are actively seeking work, the unemployment rate stood at 4.2%.

This means 42 out of 1,000 individuals in the labor force do not have a job or livelihood in October 2023, Mapa said.

The unemployment rate in October this year was lower than the 4.5% joblessness rate in September and also lower than the 4.5% rate in October last year.

October's unemployment rate was also the lowest in over a year or since the 4.2% joblessness rate recorded in November 2022.

Relatedly, the number of employed persons grew to 47.80 million from 47.67 million in September, and much higher than the 47.06 million employed individuals in October 2022.

This translates to an employment rate of 95.8%, up from the 95.5% in September and October last year. This is also the highest employment rate since April 2005. 

Moreover, labor force participation saw an increase from 49.3 million year-on-year, translating to a labor force participation rate of 63.9%.

Mapa said the increase in employed persons and the consequent decline in unemployment was due to the increase in economic activities, especially during the “ber” months leading to Christmas and New Year holidays.

“Normally during ‘ber’ months we are seeing an increase in economic activities… like bazaars are open during weekends, restaurants are hiring additional workers,” the PSA chief said.

The top five sub-sectors which recorded the highest year-on-year growth in employed persons were the following:

•       Accommodation and food service activities  - 291,000
•       Administrative and support service activities - 224,000
•       Transportation and storage - 149,000
•       Public administration and defense; compulsory social security - 98,000)
•       Human health and social work activities - 86,000

In a separate statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) noted that most of the employment generated were middle occupations at an additional 334,000 and high-skill occupations with an increment of 897,000, “primarily due to the expansion in tourism-related and IT-BPO sectors.”

In terms of share in the labor market, the services sector remains as the most dominant sector with 60.1% share to the total employed individuals in October this year, followed by agriculture and industry sectors accounting for 22.2% and 17.8% of the employed persons, respectively. 

In terms of class, wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 63.1% of the total employed persons in October 2023. 

This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.8% and unpaid family workers at 6.5%. 

Employers in own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 2.6%.

Meanwhile, among wage and salary workers, those employed in private establishments remained to have the highest share of 78.7% of the wage and salary workers or 49.6% of the total employed. 

This was followed by those employed in government or government-controlled corporations with a share of 14.2% of the wage and salary workers or 9% of the total employed.

Underemployed

As employed and unemployed numbers improved, underemployed individuals also decreased in October 2023, the PSA said.

Underemployed persons stood at 5.6 million, down from 5.11 million in September and much lower than the 6.67 million in October 2022.

Mapa said the underemployment rate in October 2023 was 11.7%, lower than the 14.2% recorded in October 2022.

Underemployed persons are defined as those who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.

NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, for his part, said he is expecting the conditions in the Philippine labor market to improve further, given the thrust of the Marcos administration to encourage trade and investment and reinvigorate job generation. 

“We can make the labor market more inclusive with the entry of more investments, especially those that bring in new and better technology. At the same time, we need to expand and enhance learning opportunities to ensure that we equip Filipinos for future jobs,” Balisacan said.

The country’s chief economist also expressed optimism in the labor market after President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. signed Republic Act No. 11966, also known as the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code, on December 5, 2023. 

The landmark legislation strengthens the country’s investment ecosystem by creating a more stable and predictable policy environment for collaboration in high-impact infrastructure projects. 

“The passage of the PPP Code is just one of many recent reforms that have made the Philippines more attractive to foreign investors. It provides the government with a more solid ecosystem for investments, which, in turn, generates employment opportunities for Filipino workers in several critical growth areas, including infrastructure,” said Balisacan. —KBK, GMA Integrated News