The country's employment rate reached 96.9% in June, higher than the 95.5% employment rate estimated in the same month last year and last May's 95.9%, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
In contrast, the unemployment rate dropped to 3.1% last month, from 4.5% in June 2023 and 4.1% in May 2024. In terms of magnitude, the number of unemployed individuals in June 2024 was registered at 1.62 million. This was lower than the number of unemployed individuals in June 2023, which was 2.33 million, and in May 2024, which was 2.11 million.
"In terms of level, the number of employed persons in June 2024 was 50.28 million. This was higher than the number of employed persons of 48.84 million in June 2023 and 48.87 million in May 2024," the PSA said.
It added that the labor force participation rate (LFPR) last month was 66.0%, lower than the estimated LFPR in June 2023, which was 66.1%. In May 2024, the LFPR was estimated at 64.8%.
The PSA report said, "The reported LFPR in June 2024 translates to 51.90 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were in the labor force, or those who were either employed or unemployed. The number of individuals aged 15 and over in the labor force was 51.17 million in June 2023 and 50.97 million in May 2024."
On average, the PSA said an employed individual worked 40.9 hours per week in June, higher than the average hours worked in a week in the same month, 40.0 hours, and in May 2024, 40.6 hours.
However, the underemployment rate increased to 12.1% during the same month this year, from 12.0% in June 2023 and 9.9% in May 2024.
In terms of magnitude, 6.08 million of the 50.28 million employed individuals in June 2024 expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have extra jobs or to have a new job with longer hours of work, the report said.
"By broad industry group, the services sector continued as the top sector regarding the number of employed persons with a share of 58.7% of the total number of employed persons in June 2024. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 21.1% and 20.2% of the total number of employed persons in the reference month, respectively," the PSA said.
According to the report, wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons, 63.8% of the total number of employed persons during the month. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.0% and unpaid family workers at 5%. Employers in their own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 1.7%.
Among wage and salary workers, those employed in private establishments comprised the largest share, 80.5%, or 51% of the total number of employed persons in June 2024. This was followed by those employed in government or government-controlled corporations, with a share of 12.5% of the wage and salary workers or 8.0% of the total number of employed persons during the period.
The youth employment rate in June increased to 91.4%, from 88.4% in the same month last year and 88.8% in May 2024. Of the 6.21 million employed youth in June 2024, 12.9% were underemployed. This was higher than the youth underemployment rate of 8.5% in June 2023 and 10.2% in May 2024.
Comments