The Philippines’ unemployment rate was at 6.4 percent, which translates to 3.13 million jobless Filipinos, in February, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Agency (PSA).
The agency’s Labor Force Survey, which was released on Thursday, April 7, noted that the 3.126 million unemployed Filipinos was higher than January’s 2.925 million, but lower than the February of last year’s 4.187 million.
The country’s underemployment eased to 14 percent in February compared to 14.9 percent in January, and 18.2 percent in the same period last year.
February’s underemployment is equivalent to 6.38 million workers, said the report.
February’s unemployment rate was also steady at 93.6 percent, with 45.48 million Filipinos, compared to the 43.02 million in the previous month.
The unemployment rate increased in early 2020 at the start of the coronavirus pandemic as many businesses closed.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the nationwide shift to Alert Level 1 could further improve the employment rate.
He said more Filipinos joined the labor force when restrictions in the national capital and other key economic centers eased to Alert Level 1 last month.
“We aim to shift the entire country to Alert level 1 to enable even more Filipinos to find work,” Chua said in a statement.
