Unemployed Pinoys down to 2.26M in April 2023

The number of jobless Filipinos continued its downward trajectory in April amid increased economic activity during the period, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Friday showed.

At a press conference, National Statistician and PSA chief Claire Dennis Mapa reported that the number of unemployed persons aged 15 years old and above declined to 2.26 million in April 2023 from 2.76 million in April 2022, translating to an unemployment rate of 4.5% out of 50.31 million individuals in the labor force.

Month-on-month, April’s number of unemployed person was lower than the 2.42 million jobless persons in March this year.

“Basically, if we look at it this is related to our economic activities,” Mapa said.

The number of employed persons, meanwhile, grew to 48.06 million from 45.63 million in April 2022. This translates to an employment rate of 95.5%, higher than the 94.3% employment rate in April last year.

The services sector dominated the labor market with the largest share of employed persons of 61.1%, while the agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 21.9% and 17%, respectively.

On the other hand, the top five sub-sectors with the highest increase on the number of employed persons from April 2022 to April 2023 were the following:

• Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (914,000)
• Accommodation and food service activities (379,000)
• Administrative and support service activities (345,000)
• Transportation and storage (321,000)
• Other service activities (242,000)

"To ensure the continuation of this trend, the government affirms its commitment to the unimpeded implementation of economic liberalization reforms and other essential legislation," National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in a statement.

"These efforts will be complemented by comprehensive collaborations among government entities and society as a whole to enhance the employability and productivity of our workforce," he said.

Wage and salary workers accounted for the lion’s share of employed persons with 61.5% of the total.

Among wage and salary workers, employed persons in private establishments made up 47.6% of the total, followed by employed in government or government-controlled corporations with 9.2% share.

Despite the year-on-year increase in employed person, several sectors posted declines in employment such as agriculture and forestry (-290,000); manufacturing (-204,000); construction (-65,000); electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply (-18,000); and activities of extraterritorial organizations and bodies (-3,000).

The number of underemployed persons — employed persons who expressed the desire to have an additional hour of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work — was registered at 6.20 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 12.9%.

This was lower than the reported 14% underemployment rate in April 2022.

Across all regions, Region II posted the highest employment rate of 97.6%, followed by Cordillera Administrative Region at 97.3%, Region IX at 97.3%, MIMAROPA at 97.1%, and Region XIII at 97.0%.

Meanwhile, unemployment rate at the regional level showed that five of the 17 regions posted an unemployment rate higher than the national rate of 4.5% in April 2023, namely, Region IV-A (5.5%), National Capital Region (5.3%), Region X (5.3%), Region VII (5.2%), and Region III (4.7%).

Balisacan said that to continue the improvements in the labor market, the government can capitalize on digital technologies to foster innovation, upgrade services, and effectively respond to the needs of the workforce.

“Hence, the complete execution of the Philippine Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act is also vital for equipping the workforce with digital technology skills and fostering innovation," he said.

The country’s chief economist cited the significance of collaboration among government agencies, training institutions, technology providers, and other stakeholders to address skills mismatches, provide guidance on in-demand skills, and empower Filipinos through the utilization of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and extended reality. —KBK, GMA Integrated News