Unemployment slightly up, underemployment drops in October

Filipinos seeking jobs troop to a job fair sponsored by the Philippine Daily Inquirer. INQUIRER FILE

The jobless rate inched up in October even as the number of underemployed declined, the government reported Tuesday.

Results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s October 2017 Labor Force Survey showed that the unemployment rate slightly rose to 5 percent from 4.7 percent in the same month last year.

Preliminary estimates also showed that the underemployment rate dropped to 15.9 percent from 18 percent a year ago.

The PSA defines the underemployed as “employed persons who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.” /cbb