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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Recto: Job quality showing improvement in Philippines

Recto: Job quality showing improvement in Philippines

Despite higher unemployment rate

Published Mar 8, 2024 07:43 am

Despite the rise in the unemployment rate, the Department of Finance (DOF) noted that the quality of employment in the country is improving, with an increasing number of Filipinos securing formal and stable jobs.

Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto said that the Philippines had a total of 45.9 million employed individuals in January, with the majority—30.8 million or 67.1 percent—being wage and salary workers primarily from private establishments.

Recto said this improvement in job quality is also reflected by the decrease in the underemployment rate, which declined to 13.9 percent during the month from 14.1 percent in the same month the previous year.

“Wage and salary workers enjoy more stable employment conditions, including perks such as health insurance and social welfare benefits,” Recto said in a statement on Friday, March 8.

“The fact that they are continuously increasing and accounting for the largest share of employed persons in the country indicates that the majority of our workforce is engaged in formal jobs,” he added.

Based on the latest results of the Labor Force Survey (LFS), the number of unemployed Filipinos aged 15 and above increased to 2.15 million in the first month of the year from 1.60 million in December.

Compared to January 2023, the count of jobless individuals was down by 228,00 from 2.38 million jobless persons in that month.

The unemployment rate, as a percentage of the total 48.09 million individuals in the labor force actively seeking work, was recorded at 4.5 percent, a rise from the 3.6 percent in December of the previous year.

More than half of the total employment in January 2024 was provided by services (60.2 percent) followed by agriculture (21.4 percent) and industry (18.4 percent).

Meanwhile, the top sub-sectors that recorded annual increases in the number of employed persons in January were construction; transportation and storage; administrative and support service activities; and fishing and aquaculture.

Overall, the employment rate rose to 95.5 percent in January from 95.2 percent in the same month in 2023.

“While the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR), or the estimate of an economy's active workforce, slightly dropped to 61.1 percent in January 2024 compared to 64.5 percent in January 2023, this could be attributed to a decrease in youth LFPR due to return to schooling,” the DOF said.

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