Unemployment rate rises slightly to 4.5% in June

The country’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.5% in June, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) released on Wednesday showed.

The PSA said the number of unemployed persons (2.33 million) in June 2023 was higher by 159,000 compared with the figure in May 2023 (2.17 million), but lower than June 2022’s 2.99 million.

Services continued to have the largest share of the total employed population in June 2023 at 58.2%, followed by agriculture and industry sectors, which accounted for 23.8% and 18%, respectively.

The employment rate among the youth was estimated at 90.1%, or 6.45 million, higher than the 88.2% posted in June 2022 and the 89.4% reported in May 2023. 

According to the government, youth employment refers to individuals aged 15 to 24 who are part of the labor force and are employed. 

“As the number of young workers continues to expand, the Marcos administration is exerting efforts to focus on training and upskilling to improve their employability for high-quality and high-paying jobs,” National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the number of underemployed individuals or employed persons who expressed the desire to have an additional hour of work in their present job, to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work stood at 5.87 million in June 2023, translating to an underemployment rate of 12%.

The underemployment rate in May 2023 was 11.7%, representing 5.66 million individuals.