The ranks of the jobless Filipinos shrunk in January compared to the same period last year, with many deciding to take themselves off the labor market.
The Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday unemployment rate declined to 4.5 percent in January, or a total 2.15 million. The latest data was an improvement from the 2.38 million jobless in January last year, or an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent.
Data, however, showed that even if employment rate rose to 95.5 percent in January from 95.2 percent in the year-earlier period, absolute numbers showed the number of employed Filipinos declined to 45.9 million from 47.3 million.
In December, when demand for seasonal workers because of the Christmas holidays, total employment was counted at 50.5 million while total jobless figure was lower at 1.6 million.
PSA data showed that of 45.9 million employed Filipinos in January, the services sector accounted for 60.2 percent or 27.7 million workers, agriculture contributed 21.4 percent or 9.83 million while industry had a shares of 18.4 percent, or 8.45 million. In the year-earlier period, services employed 28.8 million, agriculture 10.5 million while industry contributed 8.05 million.
The PSA said labor force participation rate in January was 61.1 percent, equivalent to 48.09 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and older who are in the labor force, down from 64.5 percent in the year-earlier period, which translated to 49.73 million Filipinos.
Underemployment rate in January declined to 13.9 percent from 14.1 percent in January 2023. This translates to 6.39 million Filipinos seeking additional working hours or better jobs in January, down from 6.67 million in January last year.
