Number of jobless Filipinos eases in February

MANILA, Philippines — The number of unemployed Filipinos decreased in the second month of 2024, posting an unemployment rate of 3.5%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.

During a Thursday morning press conference, National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa announced a decrease in the number of unemployed persons aged 15 and above to 1.8 million in February 2024, down from 2.15 million in January 2024.

This means that the number of jobless individuals decreased by 355,000. This is also lower than the 2.47 million unemployed Filipinos in the same period in 2023.

Mapa reported that the latest jobless rate numbers, at 1.6 million unemployed individuals, are the lowest since December 2023.

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

• Fishing and aquaculture (-402 thousand)
• Information and communication (-137 thousand)
• Professional, scientific and technical activities (-82 thousand)
• Arts, entertainment, and recreation (-79 thousand)
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-54 thousand)

The PSA reported that the underemployment rate for February 2024 was reported at 12.4%, a decrease from the rates of 12.9% in February 2023 and 13.9% in January 2024.

Meanwhile, 6.08 million of the 48.95 million employed individuals expressed a desire to have an additional job or hours of work in February 2024, a significant decline from the 6.39 million in the preceding month.

Employment rate

The Philippines also posted a 96.5% employment rate or 48.95 million Filipinos who have jobs in February 2024. 

This was a significant increase from January 2024’s 45.94 million employed Filipinos. 

This was also a modest uptick from the February 2023 numbers of 48.80 million.

According to the PSA, the following sectors had the most increase in employment on a month-on-month basis:

• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (1.61 million)
• Agriculture and forestry (1.03 million)
• Accommodation and food service activities (325 thousand)
• Construction (231 thousand)
• Transportation and storage (206 thousand)

Wage and salary workers continue to hold the largest share in the percentage among employed individuals, comprising 62.9% of the total employed persons in February 2024. 

This is followed by self-employed individuals without any hired employees at 27.2%, while unpaid family workers constituted 7.8%.

Employers in their family-operated farm or business represented the smallest share at 2.0%.

Meanwhile, the services sector dominates the labor market with a 60.6% share in the employed numbers. This is followed by the agriculture sector with 21.3% and industry sector with 18.1%.

The labor force participation rate or the total number of employed and unemployed individuals aged 15 and above, on the other hand, is 64.8% or 50.75 million Filipinos. 

This is slightly higher than the 48.09 million Filipinos in December 2023 and the 51.27 million in February 2023.

On April 5, the PSA reported that the country’s inflation quickened to 3.7% in March 2024 due to soaring transportation costs and food prices.