PSA: PH unemployment eased in May to 3.9%
The proportion of unemployed Filipinos declined in May even as the number of job seekers reached an all-time high, as the new entrants were able to secure employment.
A nationwide survey of 11,083 households showed there were 2.03 million Filipinos who were either jobless or out of business, down from 2.06 million recorded in April, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Tuesday.
That translated to an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent, lower than the preceding month’s rate of 4.1 percent.
Data showed the decline in unemployment coincided with the increase in number of individuals aged 15 years old and above who actively looked for work.
Those people—who were considered part of the country’s labor force—were estimated at an all-time high of 52.32 million in May, up from 50.54 million before.
That was equivalent to a labor force participation rate of 65.8 percent, the highest in a data series dating back to 2005 when the PSA adopted a new definition of “unemployed persons.”
“Generally, a larger workforce can lead to increased economic output and potentially higher GDP (gross domestic product) growth, as more people contribute to the economy,” said Economy, Planning and Development Secretary Arsenio Balisacan.
Reinielle Matt Erece, an economist at Oikonomia Advisory & Research Inc., said the expansion of the labor force may have happened at a time when there was “better absorption rate” of fresh graduates.
PSA data showed the youth employment rate—which covers those aged 15 to 24 years old—rose to 91.5 percent in May from 88.5 percent in April.
This, Erece said, could explain the drop in the jobless rate during the month.
“As long as the country continues to incentivize business expansion and investment such as (interest) rate cuts, better government services, job generation may follow,” he said.
Dissecting the latest jobs report, agriculture and forestry recorded the highest month-on-month increase in employment, which jumped by 819,000.
National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said the harvest season created more available work in this sector.
Accommodation and food service clocked in the second-highest employment growth after absorbing 779,000 more workers.
Meanwhile, there was also an improvement in job quality–after the number of employed individuals who had to look for more work or additional working hours to augment their income declined to 6.60 million from 7.09 million previously.
That translated to an underemployment rate of 13.1 percent, better than the preceding month’s 14.6 percent, but still an area of concern.
“We think the Philippine labor market will remain a key pillar of support for the local economy,” analysts at Chinabank Research said in a commentary.
“The increase in labor force participation in May reflected growing job opportunities for Filipino workers, contributing to the resilience of the domestic economy amid an increasingly volatile global environment,” they added.
