Jobless Filipinos down to 1.89M in September —PSA

The number of unemployed Filipinos decreased to 1.89 million in September this year from 2.07 million in August, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Wednesday.

At a press conference, PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said that the unemployment rate was at 3.7% in September, which was lower than the 4.0% a month prior and the 4.5% during the same period last year. 

Meanwhile, the country’s employment rate in September rose to 96.3% —an improvement from the 96.0% in August and 95.5% in September 2023. 

This translated to 49.87 million Filipinos with jobs in September, compared to the 49.15 million in August, and 47.67 million in September last year. 

According to Mapa, there were also 5.94 million out of the 49.87 million employed individuals who expressed the desire to have additional working hours, to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work.

This means that the underemployment rate in September increased to 11.9% from 11.2% in August 2024.

The labor force participation rate (LFPR) also jumped from 64.8% to 65.7%, meaning there were 51.77 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were in the labor force, or those who were either employed or unemployed. 

Employed Filipinos also worked an average of 40.3 hours per week in September, down from 40.7 hours in August and 40.8 hours in September 2023. 

The services sector also continued to be at the top in terms of the number of employed persons (49.87 million) with a share of 62.8%.

This was followed by the agriculture sector which accounted for 19.9%, and the industry sector with 17.4%.

The top five sub-sectors with the largest increase month-on-month were the following:

• Administrative and support service activities (642,000)
• Manufacturing (357,000)
• Agriculture and forestry (294,000)
• Other service activities (235,000)
• Fishing and aquaculture (129,000)

On the other hand, these are the top five sub-sectors with the largest drop in the number of employed persons from August to September 2024:

• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-597,000)
• Construction (-284,000)
• Human health and social work activities (-177,000)
• Accommodation and food service activities (-173,000)
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-125,000)

Gov’t priorities

As the labor market continued to show improvement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said that enhancing job quality in the country and improving the incomes of Filipino workers are among the government's top priorities. 

“We are sustaining our efforts to enhance all dimensions of our labor market. The government is urgently addressing the constraints to high-quality job creation and collaborating with the private sector to capacitate our workers with the right skills and competencies simultaneously," NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement. 

Balisacan further said that the government would continue implementing supply- and demand-side interventions to achieve the employment targets under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.

He also stressed that expediting the implementation of key infrastructure projects, specifically in energy, logistics, and physical and digital connectivity “remains critical to unlocking the country's growth potential.”

“The passage of the Konektadong Pinoy Bill and expanding efforts to equip the workforce with emerging and in-demand skills are deemed necessary. We will strengthen collaboration with the private sector and academe to upskill the workforce, particularly in using digital technologies and other innovations,” the NEDA chief said. 

Balisacan also believes that the passage of the Apprenticeship Bill, Lifelong Learning Bill, and Enterprise Productivity Act into law would further improve the employability of the Filipino workforce.

Balisacan also believes that the passage of the Lifelong Learning Bill and Enterprise Productivity Act into law would further improve the employability of the Filipino workforce.

‘Economic conditions improving’

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, meanwhile, welcomed the results of the latest Labor Force Survey, saying that it shows “that economic conditions continue to improve and exceed pre-pandemic levels.”

“The decrease in the unemployment rate last Sept. 2024 to 3.7% compared to 4.5% for the same period last year is a notable outcome of the continuous adoption of crucial socio-economic reforms and initiatives of the national government under the leadership of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.,” he said.

Laguesma, however, noted that the increase in the underemployment rate from 10.7% to 11.9% year-on-year is an indication that there are more jobs available but their quality remains to be a challenge.

“In this regard, efforts to create and generate quality jobs will continue to be a top priority and will be aggressively pursued in collaboration with the private sector,” he added.

—VAL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News