Jobless Filipinos hit 2mln in March 2024

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The number of jobless Filipinos has increased in March 2024, posting an unemployment rate of 3.9%, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.

During a Wednesday morning press conference, national statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa announced an uptick in the number of unemployed persons aged 15 and above to two million in March 2024, up from 1.8 million in February 2024.

This means that the number of jobless individuals increased by 205,000. This, however, is lower than the 2.42 million unemployed Filipinos in the same period in 2023.

The following industries had the largest drop in employment from February to March, according to Mapa:

Agriculture and forestry: 318,000

Transportation and storage: 292,000

Construction: 214,000

Administrative and support services: 118,000

The PSA reported that the underemployment rate for March 2024 was at 11%, showing a slight decrease from the rates of 12.4% in February 2024 and 11.2% in March 2023.

Meanwhile, 5.39 million of the 49.15 million employed individuals expressed a desire to have an additional job or hours of work in February 2024, a significant decline from the 6.08 million in the preceding month.

Employment rate

In March 2024, the Philippines also posted a 96.1% employment rate or 49.15 million Filipinos who have jobs.

This was a significant increase from February 2024, which recorded 48.95 million employed Filipinos.

It represented a slight increase from March 2023, where the figure stood at 48.58 million.

According to Mapa, the following industries had the largest increase in employment from February to March:

Public administration and defense; compulsory social security: 606,000

Manufacturing: 351,000

Information and communication: 159,000

Accommodation and food service activities: 110,000

Wage and salary workers continue to hold the largest share in the percentage among employed individuals, comprising 64.2% of the total employed persons in February 2024.

This is followed by self-employed individuals without any hired employees at 27%, while unpaid family workers constituted 6.8%.

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 61.4% 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 65.3% or 51.15 million Filipinos. The figure is slightly higher than the 50.75 million Filipinos in February 2024 and the 51 million in March 2023.

The PSA previously reported that the country's inflation quickened to 3.8% in April 2024 due to soaring transportation costs and food prices.