Ranks of jobless rise slightly in Sep to 2.26M from Aug

The ranks of the employed increased slightly in September to 2.26 million from 2.21 million in August, with bad weather affecting jobs in the farm sector, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Wednesday.

The jobless rate of 4.5 percent in September was lower than the 5.0 percent recorded in September last year, when the estimated number of unemployed of 2.5 million. The unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in August.

Economic Planning Undersecretary and National Statistician Dennis Mapa said bad weather, particularly the occurrence of a number of typhoons, in September and in month prior to that hurt work availability in the farm sector, particularly in vegetable and palay production. Meantime, the decline in the size of the work force could be explained primarily by the decision of over 300,000 to go back to school, he added.

The employment rate stood at 95.5 percent in September, or a total 47.7 million out of the 64.1 million estimated labor force. The employment rate was 95.6 percent of estimated 64.7 million labor force in August and was at 95.0 percent of the 65.2 million labor force in September last year.

Services accounted for 60.4 percent of the estimated 47.7 million employed in September while agriculture and industry had shares of  21.5 percent and 18.1 percent, respectively.

The ranks of the underemployed, or those with jobs but are still looking for additional work to get better pay, stood 10.7 percent in September compared with 11.7 percent in August and 15.4 percent in September 2022.

Mapa said there are indications, as shown by the data, including the declining ranks of the underemployed, that the quality of jobs are improving. He said the employment rate should improve in the fourth quarter due to an expected increase in economic activity ahead of the Christmas season. “We usually see retail operators hire additional workers, under the category of seasonal, short-term contractuals. We have seen that in the past years and we expect that in the fourth quarter,” he added.