PH unemployment rate declines in April

MANILA, Philippines – More jobs were generated in April this year, as the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) recorded fewer unemployed Filipinos this month than a year ago, the results of the agency’s latest survey showed.

The latest preliminary report from the PSA showed that the unemployment rate in April declined to 6.1% from 6.4% a year ago.

Unemployment rates were highest in the National Capital Region with 7.7%, followed by Ilocos Region (7.5%), Calabarzon (7.5%), and Central Luzon (7.1%).

Most unemployed Filipinos in April this year were male (63.2%). 

National Statistician Lisa Grace Bersales said a little bit over half of the total unemployed were in the age group of 15 to 24 years old.

Almost a third of those unemployed are high school graduates (31.4%), and more than one-fifth are college graduates (23.1%), the PSA data showed.

Employment, underemployment inch up

For employment, the PSA data showed that the rate inched up to 93.9% from 93.6%, while the labor force participation rate eased to 63.6% from 64.6%. 

Filipinos who are employed in the service sector climbed to 56.7% in April, from 54.2% a year earlier.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate in April climbed to 18.4%, from 17.8% in the same month a year ago.

Those considered underemployed are people with jobs who express the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job, to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.

Underemployed persons who work for less than 40 hours in a week accounted for 54.2% of the total underemployed in April 2016.

The PSA data revealed that 45.7% of the underemployed worked in the services sector, while 35.5% were in the agriculture sector. 

The PSA data for April 2015 exclude Leyte, which still bears the effects of Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) that devastated the area in November 2013. – Rappler.com

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