In January 2022, the country’s unemployment rate was reported at 6.4 percent. This translates to 2.93 million unemployed Filipinos, projecting a decline of 1.04 million from the 3.96 million reported in January 2021.
The number of persons 15 years old and over reported as either employed or unemployed was estimated at 45.94 million in January 2022. This was higher compared to the 45.21 million Filipinos in the labor force in the same period last year. In terms of the labor force participation rate (LFPR), this remained the same as the January 2021 rate of 60.5 percent.
Employment situation in the country for the first month of 2022 has improved from 91.2 percent in January 2021 to 93.6 percent this year. This estimated rate was also higher than employment rate in the previous quarter’s 92.6 percent.
In terms of magnitude, the number of employed persons increased by 1.77 million from 41.25 million in January 2021 to 43.02 million in January 2022.
On average, employed persons worked for 41.8 hours per week in January 2022. In January 2021, the average hours worked of an employed person was lower at 39.3 hours per week.
Underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was accounted at 6.40 million translating to an underemployment rate of 14.9 percent. This was lower than the 16.0 percent reported in January 2021 but higher than the 14.7 percent reported in December 2021.
Visible underemployment rate or the proportion of underemployed persons working less than 40 hours in a week was reported at 8.9 percent in January 2022. This was lower than the 11.0 percent in the same period last year. This estimated rate was also lower than the October 2021 and December 2021 estimates at 10.7 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.
Unemployment rate in January 2022 falls to 2.93M
On the other hand, invisible underemployment rate or the proportion of underemployed persons working at least 40 hours in a week was estimated at 5.9 percent in January 2022. This was higher than the reported rate in January 2021 (5.0%), October 2021 (5.3%) and December 2021 (4.9%).
f. By region, CAR registered the highest LFPR at 65.0 percent in January 2022 while BARMM registered the lowest at 55.6 percent. Among the regions, eight posted lower LFPR than the national estimate, namely, BARMM (55.6%), Region VIII (58.0%), Region V (58.4%), Region III (58.6%), NCR (58.8%), Region XI (59.5%), Region VII (60.0%), and Region IX (60.0%).
g. Across regions, eight of the country’s 17 administrative regions posted higher unemployment rates than the 6.4 percent national estimate. These were the following: Region VII (8.0%), Region V (7.8%), BARMM (7.5%), Region IV-A (7.4%), NCR (7.3%), Region I (7.2%), Region VIII (7.0%), and MIMAROPA (6.5%).
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