The employment rate in the country was estimated at 95.8 percent in October 2023, the highest recorded employment rate since April 2005 and the same with estimated rate in November 2022. In terms of levels, the number of employed persons 15 years old and over was recorded at 47.80 million in October 2023, which was higher compared with 47.06 million in October 2022 and 44.63 million in July 2023.
In October 2023, the country’s unemployment rate was posted at 4.2 percent, which was lower compared with the 4.5 percent unemployment rate in October last year and 4.8 percent rate recorded in July 2023. The reported unemployment rate in October 2023 was the lowest since April 2005.
In terms of magnitude, about 2.09 million were unemployed in October 2023. This was lower than the reported number of unemployed persons in October 2022 of 2.24 million and in July 2023 of 2.27 million.
The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in October 2023 was registered at 63.9 percent, translating to 49.89 million Filipinos who were either employed or unemployed. This LFPR was lower than the reported rate in October 2022 at 64.1 percent, but higher than the LFPR in July 2023 at 60.1 percent.
The average weekly hours worked of an employed individual in October 2023 was estimated at 41.2 hours per week. This was higher than the 40.2 hours per week in October 2022 but lower than the 42.3 weekly hours in July 2023.
Employment rate in PH hits highest since 2005 – PSA
Underemployed persons or those employed who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their current job or to have an additional job or to have a new job with longer hours of work was recorded at 5.60 million out of the 47.80 million employed Filipinos in October 2023. This translates to an underemployment rate of 11.7 percent, which was lower than the reported underemployment rate in October 2022 (14.2%) and July 2023 (15.9%).
By broad industry group, services sector continued to dominate the labor market in October 2023 in terms of number of employed persons with a share of 60.1 percent to the total employed persons of 47.80 million. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 22.2 percent and 17.8 percent of the employed persons, respectively.
The top five sub-sectors in terms of annual increase in the number of employed persons in October 2023 were the following:
- Accommodation and food service activities (291 thousand);
- Administrative and support service activities (224 thousand);
- Transportation and storage (149 thousand);
- Public administration and defense; compulsory social security
(98 thousand); and - Human health and social work activities (86 thousand).
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