Philippines’ jobless rate falls to lowest level since start of pandemic

In March, the number of unemployed citizens aged 15 and above was estimated at 3.44 million, 747,000 less than from February.
By: | May 11, 2021
Topics: Job Cuts | News | Philippines | Recruitment

The Philippines’ unemployment rate fell to 7.1% in March, the lowest level since the pandemic started in April 2020 (17.6%), according to data from the Philippines Statistics Authority.

This also marks a fall from the jobless rate in February, at 8.8%. In March, the number of unemployed citizens aged 15 and above was estimated at 3.44 million, registering a fall of some 747,000 unemployed persons from the preceding month.

Meanwhile, the employment rate increased to 92.9% in March, an improvement from the 91.2% in February. Of that, the employment rate among men (93.4%) was higher as compared to women (92.2%).

By industry, the services sector remained the dominant employment sector, accounting for 56% of total employment in March. This was followed by agriculture, which employed 24.6% of workers, while the industry sector employed 19.4% of workers.

READ: COVID-19 is now a compensable work-related disease in the Philippines

By occupation, labour or unskilled workers made up the largest proportion of those employed (29.8%), followed by service and sales workers (20.7%), and skilled agricultural, forestry, and fishery workers (12.3%).

The average weekly hours of work also improved in March, at 39.7 hours, from 38.9 hours in February. In January, the average weekly hours of work was 39.3 hours.