Philippine unemployment rate eased to 4.5% in Oct

The number of unemployed people in the Philippines decreased to 2.24 million in October from 3.5 million a year ago, with 1.26 million escaping joblessness this year amid record high inflation.

Preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest labor force survey released on Wednesday showed that the unemployment rate eased to 4.5 percent in October, lower than the 7.4 percent in October 2021 and the 5 percent in September.

The employment rate in October rose to 95.5 percent, from 95 percent in the previous month. This , according to the PSA, was the highest rate recorded since January 2020. It meant there were 47.11 million employed Filipinos in Oct, up from 43.82 million in the same period last year.

The number of underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional work hours in their present job or to have an additional job was at 6.67 million or an underemployment rate of 14.2 percent. This was lower than the 16.1 percent in October last year and 15.4 percent last September.