MANILA, Philippines — The number of unemployed Filipinos has so far reached 2.38 million with the National Capital Region (NCR) leading the regions with the most number of unemployed Filipinos, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.
This means that the unemployment rate in July 2024 was 4.7 percent, higher than June’s 3.1 percent, but slightly lower than the 4.9 percent recorded in July 2023.
“In terms of magnitude, the total number of unemployed individuals in July 2024 was registered at 2.38 million. This was higher than the estimated number of unemployed persons of 2.29 million in July 2023 and 2.04 million in April 2024,” said national statistician Claire Dennis Mapa in a press briefing.
According to Mapa, among the sectors that experienced the largest annual decreases in the total number of employed Filipinos include manufacturing which saw a reduction of 154,000, followed by professional, scientific, and technical activities which decreased by 100,000.
Information and communication sector also lost 76,000 employees, mining and quarrying with 36,000; and human health and social work activities saw a decrease of 27,000.
PSA said that in the same period, the NCR had the highest unemployment rate at 6.5 percent, while the Cordillera Administrative Region had the lowest at 2.3 percent.
Despite the decline, the PSA likewise reported that in July 2024, the employment rate slightly rose to 95.3 percent from 95.1 percent in July 2023 but it’s still lower if it will be compared to the 9 percent recorded in April thi year.
The number of employed persons in July 2024 was about 47.70 million, up from 44.56 million in July 2023 but down from 48.36 million in April 2024, it said.
Decreased hours of work, underemployment
The PSA noted that on average, these employed Filipinos worked 41.1 hours per week in July, down from 42.4 hours in July 2023 but up from 40.5 hours in April.
It said that the underemployment rate—those who are working but still looking for more work or longer hours of work—decreased to 12.1 percent in July, from 15.9 percent in July 2023 and 14.6 percent in April 2024.
Out of 47.70 million employed individuals, 5.78 million wanted either more hours in their current job, an additional job, or a new job with longer hours in July 2024.
