Unemployment rate holds steady at 4.8% in Feb.

By Mariedel Irish U. Catilogo, Researcher

THE country’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.8% in February while job quality improved, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.

Preliminary results of the statistic agency’s February round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) showed the unemployment rate remained at the same level as January, but lower than the 6.4% jobless rate in February 2022.

However, the number of unemployed Filipinos increased by 4.3% or 102,000 to 2.48 million in February from 2.37 million in January. It was also 21% or 651,000 lower than the 3.13 million jobless a year ago.

February’s jobless rate was the lowest since 4.3% in December 2022.

On the other hand, the underemployment rate stood at 12.9% in February, improving from 14.1% in January and 14% in the same month last year.

This translated to 6.29 million Filipinos looking for an additional job or longer working hours, 5.5% lower than January’s 6.65 million. On an annual basis, this was 1.5% lower than the 6.38 million underemployed in February 2022.

The underemployment rate in February was also the lowest since the 12.6% recorded in December last year.

“The most recent data on the country’s workforce suggests that the Philippine labor market is steadily recovering. The lifting of various restrictions that previously impeded employment opportunities has resulted in an increase in job prospects for Filipino workers,” National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan said in a statement.

The size of the labor force rose by 3.1% month on month to 51.27 million in February. It was also 5.5% up from a year ago’s 48.61 million.

This translated to a labor force participation rate (LFPR) — the proportion of the total labor in the working-age population of 15 years old and over — of 66.6% in February, higher than 64.5% the previous month and 63.8% in February 2022.

It was the highest LFPR since 67.5% in November last year.

PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa said the labor force participation rate will continue to grow amid economic reopening.

“It’s already back to the pre-pandemic levels. So, opening up the economy, lesser restrictions — we have seen this during the lockdowns that labor force participation rate increases when restrictions ease,” Mr. Mapa said during a briefing in mixed English and Filipino.

The employment rate — the share of the employed to the total working force — was unchanged at 95.2% in February from January but improved from 93.6% in February last year.

In absolute numbers, the ranks of employed Filipinos rose 3.1% or 1.45 million month on month to 48.8 million in February. Year on year, the number of employed Filipinos jumped 7.3% or 3.32 million from 45.48 million in February 2022.

The service sector remained the top employer in February with an employment rate of 59.6% of the total population, followed by agriculture at 24.1% and industry at 16.3%.

Month on month, higher employment was seen in the agriculture and forestry (up by 997,000); construction (up 277,000); fishing and aquaculture (up 246,000); wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (up by 219,000); and public administration and defense; compulsory social security (up 213,000).

Meanwhile, month-on-month job losses were recorded in administrative and support service activities (down by 177,000); information and communication (79,000); real estate activities (77,000); and transportation and storage (73,000).

The manufacturing sector reported the highest job losses in February at 319,000.

On average, an employed Filipino worked 39.5 hours in a week in February, slightly lower compared to the 39.6 hours in the previous month and 40.8 hours in the same period last year.

“Improvement in these businesses or industries hit hard by the pandemic especially from 2020 to 2021 also led to the further reduction in underemployment rate and overall employment data,” Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. Chief Economist Michael L. Ricafort said in a Viber message.

Federation of Free Workers Vice-President Julius H. Cainglet said that the jobs in manufacturing and agriculture will not improve if there is no government support.

“Support for local manufacturing is still the right strategy, together with support for agriculture as the continued importation of agricultural products still kills jobs,” Mr. Cainglet said in a Viber message.