Jobless rate rose to 4.8% in January 2023
MANILA, Philippines -The unemployment rate in the Philippines increased again to 4.8 percent last January from 4.3 percent in December 2022, according to preliminary data at the Philippine Statistics Authority. This meant some 2.37 million jobless Filipinos during the month.
This was the highest monthly readout since the 5 percent in September 2022.
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said that in January, there were 49.72 million Filipinos who had jobs or were available and looking for work.
This was 3.5 million more than the 46.22 million Filipinos who were participating in the labor force in January last year.
The number of unemployed Filipinos in January was 580,000 less than the 2.95 million jobseekers in the same month in 2022.
According to the PSA, the number of underemployed or employed persons who wanted to have additional work hours in their current job or to have additional job hits 6.65 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 14.1 percent in January. This was lower than the rate in January 2022 (14.9 percent) and in October 2022 (14.2 percent)
Secretary Arsenio Balisacan of the National Economic and Development Authority said the latest employment indicators showed the robust recovery and growth of our labor market from a slump in January 2022, when the surge in Omicron cases prompted stringent mobility and capacity restrictions.
“However, we note that employment created year-on-year were mostly part-time and classified as vulnerable,” Balisacan said.
He added that policies and programs that directly contribute to labor productivity and employment generation must be prioritized, not only to preserve jobs but also to generate quality jobs.
