Marcos: Philippine economy moving in right direction amid decrease in number of jobless Pinoys

Published November 09, 2022 01:43 PM By ANNA FELICIA BAJO,GMA Integrated News

Following the decrease in the number of jobless Filipinos, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. on Wednesday expressed confidence that the Philippine economy is heading towards the right direction.

This as Marcos welcomed the recent drop in the number of jobless Filipinos in September from the prior month and vowed to improve the quality of jobs to address underemployment. He said job generation was already his focus even before he assumed presidency.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s (PSA) latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) indicated that there were 2.50 million unemployed persons — ages 15 and above— in September

, which is lower than the 2.68 million jobless Filipinos in August.

“Ever since we started with the economic team, even before I took office, we really concentrated on the creation of jobs ... and that’s why it is having the effect now of bringing down our unemployment rate,” Marcos said in a statement.

"We just have to be able to tolerate the shocks that are coming from abroad. But otherwise, the economy is moving in the right direction,” he added.

The drop in the number of jobless Filipinos translates to an unemployment rate of 5%, which is lower than the 5.3% unemployment rate in the previous month.

Despite the decline in joblessness, the number of employed Filipinos also dropped to 47.58 million in September from 47.87 million in August, translating to an employment rate of 95% from 94.7% in the prior month.

Marcos stressed that "this is a good sign as the economy is trying very hard to grow."

The Chief Executive is confident that the Philippines could sustain the “positive momentum with the unemployment rate, noting that accelerating job generation has been among the top priorities of his administration.” — RSJ, GMA Integrated News

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