Employment rate in the country was estimated at 95.0 percent in September 2022 from 94.7 percent in the previous month. The employment rate in September 2022 was the highest recorded rate since January 2020. In September 2021, employment rate was reported at 91.1 percent. (Table A)
In terms of magnitude, 47.58 million Filipinos were employed in September 2022. This was lower than the number of employed persons in August 2022 at 47.87 million but higher than the 43.59 million employed persons in September 2021.
Unemployment rate in September 2022 slid to 5.0 percent from 5.3 percent in the previous month. This translates to 2.50 million unemployed Filipinos out of 50.08 million Filipinos who were in the labor force in September 2022. The unemployment rate in September 2021 was higher at 8.9 percent.
The labor force participation rate (LFPR) in September 2022 was registered at 65.2 percent or about 50.08 million individuals who were either employed or unemployed out of the 76.83 million Filipinos aged 15 years and over. The September 2022 LFPR of 65.2 percent was lower than the August 2022 LFPR of 66.1 percent but higher than the LFPR reported in September 2021 at 63.3 percent.
The average weekly hours worked by an employed person in September 2022 was estimated at 39.6 hours per week. This was lower than the average weekly hours worked in August 2022 of 40.5 hours and in the same period last year of 40.2 hours.
Employment rate in September 2022 estimated at 95 percent
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 7.33 million out of the 47.58 million employed Filipinos in September 2022. This translates to an underemployment rate of 15.4 percent, which was higher than the reported underemployment rate in August 2022 (14.7%) and in September last year (14.2%).
Among men and women, the LFPR in September 2022 was higher among men (75.5%) than women (54.8%). Employment rate for men was also higher at 95.5 percent compared with that of women at 94.4 percent. Furthermore, men had lower unemployment rate at 4.5 percent than their women counterpart at 5.6 percent. On the other hand, men had higher underemployment rate at 16.6 percent than women at 13.7 percent.
Across sectors, services consistently dominated the labor market. In September 2022, it registered the largest share of 58.9 percent to the total employed population of 47.58 million. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 22.5 percent and 18.6 percent of the employed persons, respectively.
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