August 2024 unemployment rate falls to 4%, says PSA

The Philippines’ unemployment rate fell to a two-month low of four percent in August largely due to a significant influx of Filipino women into the labor force who found jobs in the services sector, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday.

Preliminary results of the PSA’s August round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) showed the unemployment rate recorded the lowest in two months or since the 3.1 percent recorded in June, translating to 2.07 million jobless Filipinos.

This was lower compared to the 4.7 percent jobless rate in the previous month and 4.4 percent last year.

READ: July unemployment rate at 4.7%, up from 3.1% in June

In August, the female labor force participation rate (LFPR) rose to 54.7 percent, up from 52.4 percent in the previous month. Meanwhile, the female employment rate increased to 95.3 percent, up from 94.8 percent.

The underemployment rate – the share of those already working but still looking for more work or longer working hours to the total employed population – fell to 11.2 percent, an improvement from 12.1 percent in July and 11.7 percent last year.

This translated to 5.48 million Filipinos looking for an additional job or longer working hours.

READ: Jobless rate falls to 3.1% in June, says PSA

Underemployment in August was the lowest in three months.

The country’s LFPR – the proportion of the total labor in the working-age population of 15 years old and over – went up to 64.8 percent from 63.5 percent in the previous month.

August’s employment rate rose to 96 percent, up from 95.3 logged in July. In terms of level, there were 49.15 million employed Filipinos in July, higher than 47.70 million in the previous month.

The employment rate was also the highest in two months or since the 96.9 percent in June.