Jobless Filipinos balloon to 2.15 million in January 2024

MANILA, Philippines — The number of unemployed Filipinos increased in the first month of 2024, posting an unemployment rate of 4.5%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Friday.

In a press conference on Friday morning, National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa reported that the number of unemployed persons ages 15 and above climbed to 2.15 million in January 2024, down from 1.6 million in December 2023. 

This means that the number of jobless individuals increased by 228,000. However, this is lower than the 2.38 million unemployed Filipinos in the same period in 2022.

According to the PSA, the following sectors had the highest annual decrease in employed persons from October 2023 to January 2024:

• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-1.08 million)
• Agriculture and forestry (-908,000)
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-107,000)
• Manufacturing (-82,000)
• Accommodation and food service activities (-67,000)

The PSA also reported that there were 6.39 million underemployed individuals or those who expressed a desire to have an additional job or hours of work in January 2024, a significant jump from the 6.01 million in the preceding month.

The latest underemployment figures are lower than the 6.65 million in January 2023.

Employment rate

The Philippines also posted a 95.5% employment rate or 45.94 million Filipinos who have jobs in January 2024. This was a significant decrease from December 2023’s 50.52 million employed Filipinos. This was also a modest decline from the January 2023 numbers of 47.35 million.

According to the PSA, the following sectors had the most increase in employment:

• Construction – 517,000
• Transportation and storage – 165,000
• Administrative and support service activities – 160,000
• Fishing and aquaculture – 157,000
• Other service activities – 128,000

Wage and salary workers continue to hold the largest share in the percentage among employed individuals, comprising 67.1% of the total employed persons in January 2024. 

This is followed by self-employed individuals without any hired employees at 25.7%, while unpaid family workers constituted 4.7%.

Employers in their family-operated farm or business represented the smallest share at 2.6%.

Meanwhile, the services sector dominates the labor market with a 60.2% share in the employed numbers. This is followed by the agriculture sector with 21.4% and industry sector with 18.4%.

The labor force participation rate or the total number of employed and unemployed individuals ages 15 and above, on the other hand, is 64.5% or 48.09 million Filipinos. 

This is slightly lower than the 52.13 million Filipinos in December 2023 and the 49.73 million in January 2023.

On Tuesday, the PSA reported that the country’s inflation has quickened to 3.4% in February 2024 ending a four-month slowdown due to the faster increase in food prices.