The Philippines’ unemployment rate in June rose to 3.7 percent, up from 3.1 percent a year earlier, according to the latest Labor Force Survey released Wednesday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
Despite the year-on-year increase, the June figure was a slight improvement from May’s 3.9 percent.
The number of jobless individuals in June reached 1.95 million, higher than the 1.62 million recorded in June last year but slightly lower than the 2.03 million reported in May this year.
The employment rate was recorded at 96.3 percent, a decline from 96.9 percent in the same period last year but up slightly from 96.1 percent in May.
The labor force participation rate in June stood at 65.7 percent, marginally lower than 66.0 percent last year and 65.8 percent in May this year. This equates to 52.42 million Filipinos aged 15 and over being either employed or actively seeking work—the highest number since April 2005.
The Services sector remained the dominant source of employment, accounting for 61.4 percent of total employed persons, followed by Agriculture at 20.9 percent and Industry at 17.7 percent. Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (21.5%) was the leading subsector, ahead of agriculture and forestry (17.7%) and construction (10.1%).
Despite growth in areas such as fishing, finance, and transport, sectors like construction and manufacturing saw significant employment declines, with construction shedding 692,000 jobs year-on-year.
