PH sees more unemployed Filipinos in April

Metro Manila, Philippines - The country’s unemployment rate rose to 4.1 percent in April from 3.9 percent in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported on Friday, June 6.

The rate translated to 2.06 million jobless Filipinos in April.

“Sa mga na-interview natin ay 129,000 ang nagsabi na they are waiting actually for the results of their previous job application, at may 42,000 tayo na waiting to be rehired or recalled sa job,” National Statistician Dennis Mapa said.

[Translation: Around 129,000 of those interviewed for the survey said they are waiting, actually, for the results of their previous job application, and around 42,000 were waiting to be rehired or recalled for the job.]

The employment rate went down to 95.9 percent in April from 96.1 percent in March.

More than half of working Filipinos in April were in the services sector, followed by agriculture and industry sectors.

Administrative and support service activities had the highest annual increase in the number of employed Filipinos in April, while manufacturing jobs shed the most year-on-year.

“Unang tinamaan diyan ay nasa subsector natin ng semiconductor devices and other electronic components,” Mapa said. “Na-track natin ‘yung ating exports, bumaba rin doon.”

[Translation: Those affected were under the subsector of semiconductor devices and other electronic components. With this, we tracked that our exports also went down.]

The underemployment rate also inched up to 14.6 percent in April from 13.4 percent in March.

This means around 7.09 million of the 48.67 million employed Filipinos sought additional working hours or additional jobs.

“While these statistics highlight areas where we can further strengthen our workforce, particularly in addressing the critical challenges of education-job mismatch, skills-job mismatch, and geographical disparities, they also affirm the inherent adaptability and potential of our Filipino workforce,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in a statement.

Laguesma said the government will continue to craft policies, enhance workforce employability and skills, and broaden access to jobs and livelihood opportunities through the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Plan 2025-2034.

The PSA’s reporting of May inflation and April labor numbers came amid the move of Congress to deliver to the president a legislated wage hike bill. The Senate and the House of Representatives have yet to settle the final amount of the wage increase.

Mapa said the PSA will monitor how inflation and the labor market will react if the legislated wage hike bill were to be signed by the president.