The labor market improved in February from a month earlier as the number of jobless Filipinos fell, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Thursday.
At 3.5 percent, the unemployment rate was markedly lower than January's 4.5 percent and the year-earlier 4.8 percent.
This was equivalent to 1.80 million unemployed Filipinos, 350,000 less than January's 2.15 million. It was likewise lower than the 2.47 million in February last year.
Underemployment — defined by the PSA as those who "expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work" — also improved to 12.4 percent from 13.9 percent in January and the year-earlier 12.9 percent.
The underemployed numbered 6.08 million, lower than January's 6.4 million and February 2023's 6.29 million.
Employment, meanwhile, rose to 96.5 percent from 95.5 percent in January and 95.2 percent 12 months earlier.
The number of individuals with jobs reached 48.95 million, up from 45.94 million in January and February 2023's 48.80 million.
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Services continued to account for the bulk of jobs at 60.6 percent, followed by agriculture at 21.3 percent and industry at 18.1 percent.
The Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) — the number of persons in the labor force as a percentage of the working-age population — was 64.8 percent, higher than January's 61.1 percent but lower than the year-earlier 66.6 percent.
The LFPR "translates to 50.75 million Filipinos ages 15 years old and over who were in the labor force, or those who were either employed or unemployed," the PSA said in a statement.
A year earlier, those ages 15 years old and over who were in the labor force numbered 51.27 million, while in January they totaled 48.09 million.
The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), in a separate statement, said the government would continue to promote policies that would attract job-creating investments.
It noted that aside from lower unemployment and underemployment, improvements were also recorded for wage and salaried employment, middle-skilled occupations and full-time work.
"The government remains resolute in creating an enabling policy and regulatory environment to attract employment-generating investments," Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
"We will also continue to implement measures to address bottlenecks and expedite processes to realize investment pledges, particularly in priority sectors holding much promise, such as renewable energy and critical minerals," he added.
The Inter-Agency Investment Promotion Coordination Committee was said to be working on creating a plan for promoting and marketing foreign investments over the medium and long term.
The rapid progress of the government's infrastructure projects, housing program and the revival of the tourism sector were tagged as factors leading to the labor market gains.
The lower year-on-year LFPR, meanwhile, was said to be due to 669,000 youth and 404,000 women having withdrawn from the labor force.
"The needs of vulnerable groups, including women, youth, older people, and those with disabilities, remain our priority to encourage workforce participation," Balisacan said.
The NEDA chief added that the government was also planning to update policies like the Telecommuting Act to better suit the changing nature of work, especially with more people wanting to work remotely.
To help workers improve both their technical and interpersonal skills, and build a more flexible workforce, the government was said to be pushing for the approval of the proposed Apprenticeship, Lifelong Learning and Enterprise Productivity bills.
With the implementing rules of the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act — the government's master plan for employment generation — also having been issued last month, the NEDA said that it had launched an online survey about the public's perception of what constituted a "quality" job.
The poll, which can be accessed via the NEDA's Facebook and X accounts, will run until April 21.
Source: Manila Times