In its April 2023 Labor Force Survey, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that in terms of level, the number of unemployed persons in April 2023 was estimated at 2.26 million, indicating a decline of 506.20 thousand from the 2.76 million unemployed persons in April last year.
The country’s April 2023 employment rate was posted at 95.5 percent, which is higher than the estimates in April 2022 (94.3 percent) and January 2023 (95.2 percent).
In terms of magnitude, the number of employed persons rose to 48.06 million in April 2023, from 45.63 million in the same period of 2022.
According to the PSA, the number of employed persons in April 2023 was also higher than the reported 47.35 million employed persons in January 2023.
PSA data also showed the Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) has increased to 65.1 percent in April 2023 or about 50.31 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were either employed or unemployed.
The reported LFPR in April 2023 was also higher than the reported rate of 63.4 percent in April 2022 and 64.5 percent in January 2023.
LFPR among males (75.4 percent) was higher compared to females (54.7 percent) although employment rate was higher among females at 96.0 percent than their male counterparts at 95.2 percent.
The PSA also reported that the underemployment rate among males was higher (14.6 percent) than for females (10.6 percent). Unemployment rate for males was registered at 4.8 percent of the 29.27 million males in the labor force, while 4.0 percent of the 21.04 million females in the labor force were unemployed in April 2023.
The services sector continued to dominate the labor market having the largest share of employed persons of about 61.1 percent of the total employed persons in April 2023, the PSA said.
The statistics agency also reported that the year-on-year gain in employment was driven by the services sector.
The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 21.9 percent and 17.0 percent, respectively.
