The Philippines’ unemployment rate rose to three.8% in September from a 12 months earlier, signaling a fragile labor recovery as natural disasters disrupted hiring ahead of the vacation season, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed on Thursday.
About 1.96 million Filipinos were jobless in the course of the month, up from 1.89 million a 12 months earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.7%, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a news briefing, citing the impact of typhoons and earthquakes on employment.
The most recent reading improved from August’s 4%, when 2.03 million were out of labor. Employment stood at 49.6 million, barely below September 2024’s 49.87 million.
Job quality strengthened 12 months on 12 months because the underemployment rate — the share of employees in search of more hours or jobs — eased to 11.1% from 11.9%, though it worsened from 10.7% in August because of slower activity in construction.
The labor force participation rate slipped to 64.5% from 65.7% a 12 months earlier, translating to 208,000 fewer people within the workforce, the statistics agency said. Roughly 572,000 employees also left the labor force month on month. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana