Unemployment rate eases in 2019

MANILA, Philippines — Unemployment eased in 2019 as more Filipinos joined the workforce, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.

Preliminary results of the 2019 Annual Estimates of Labor Force Survey showed that based on the average of the four LFS rounds – January, April, July and October – the country’s labor force population – Filipinos aged 15 years and above – rose to 72.931 million in 2019 from 71.339 million in 2018.

The Labor Force participation rate rose to 61.3 percent of the total working age population in 2019 from 60.9 percent in 2018. This is equivalent to around 44.7 million economically active Filipinos whether employed or looking for work.

More Filipinos had work during the year, as indicated by the rise in the employment rate to 94.9 percent in 2019 from 94.7 percent in 2018. This translated to 42.4 million employed Filipinos.

More than half of Filipino workers are employed in the services sector while workers in the agriculture sector make up a little under a quarter.

The unemployment rate, pertaining to the proportion of the working age population actively looking for work, fell to 5.1 percent in 2019 from 5.3 in 2018. This meant 2.3 million Filipinos of working age had no work this year.

The underemployment rate, meanwhile, pertaining to the proportion of workers who were looking for more hours of work, fell to 14 percent in 2019 from 16.4 percent in 2018.

Around half of those who are considered to be underemployed, those working for less than 40 hours in a week, are engaged in the services sector while a third are in the agriculture sector.

Among the regions, the following regions had the highest levels of unemployment in 2019 were: Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindano (BARMM), CALABARZON, and NCR.

Among the unemployed, 75.9 percent belonged to the age group 15 to 34 years old. Those in the youth group aged 15 to 24 years old made up 44.8 percent of the unemployed. 

By gender, there were more unemployed males in 2019 (62 percent) than females (37.7 percent).

By educational attainment, a quarter of those who are unemployed were college graduates whole a quarter completed junior high school.