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The Philippine Statistics Authority attributes the decrease in unemployment to more women participating in the workforce
MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine unemployment rate eased to 4% in August 2024, from the year-high 4.7% recorded the previous month, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported as the preliminary results of the August 2024 Labor Force Survey on Tuesday, October 8.
The 4% unemployment rate translates to around 2.07 million unemployed Filipinos, down from the 2.38 million unemployed in July.
Year-on-year, August’s unemployment rate is also lower than the 2.22 milllion unemployed in August 2023, which had a 4.4% rate.
Meanwhile, employment was up to 96% in August, with 49.15 million employed, from 95.3% in July, with 47.7 million employed. The most recent rate is also higher than August last year, which had a 95.6% employment rate.
As for underemployment, August saw a decrease compared to July and August 2023, at 11.2%. This translates to 5.48 million underemployed Filipinos, compared to 12.1% in July and 11.7% in August 2023.
Underemployment provides insight into job quality, since underemployed persons are those who already have work but are seeking more working hours.
More women in the workforce
In the Tuesday briefing, National Statistician Dennis Mapa attributed the increase in employment to more women participating in the workforce. The labor force participation rate was at 64.8%.
Broken down by sex, the increase in labor force participation with males was incremental, from 74.5% in July to 74.8% in August.
With females, however, participation rose by over two percentage points, from 52.4% in July to 54.7% in August.
Over 1 million women joined the Philippine workforce in the year-by-year comparison. Some 865,000 became wage and salary workers, which the PSA uses as an indication of quality work.
Biggest industry increases, decreases
In the year-on-year comparison, the industry with the largest increase in employment was the wholesale and retail trade sector, combined with repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles. From August 2023 to August this year, some 1.13 million Filipinos were newly employed in this sector.
The next biggest increases were in these sectors:
- Public administration and defense; compulsory social security: 678,000
- Accommodation and food service activities: 537,000
- Other service activities: 380,000
- Transportation and storage: 432,000
Within industries, the occupations with the biggest increases included service and sales workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers, clerical support workers, professionals, and managers.
Meanwhile, the top three major industries with the largest drops in employment were the following:
- Agriculture and forestry: -1.68 million
- Fishing and agriculture: -628,000
- Manufacturing: -306,000
Workers with elementary occupations dropped the most in the year-on-year comparison, with 1.5 million leaving these jobs in the Philippines. Elementary occupations, as defined by the PSA, involve “the performance of simple and routine tasks which may require the use of hand-held tools and considerable physical effort.” Example tasks include cleaning, basic maintenance, and helping in food preparation.
It’s important to note that elementary occupations are the most common jobs among overseas Filipino workers. Domestic workers abroad can easily earn multiple times as much as a worker with the same job in the Philippines. – Rappler.com
