LATEST official labor data showed the ranks of Filipinos wanting more work to augment income declined, although those that were left without jobs increased, data from the government’s statistical agency showed.

At the same time, the period saw an increase in the number of employed Filipinos even as the ranks of the unemployed went up. This can be explained by the increase in the participation rate, which indicates more Filipinos have entered the labor force.

Preliminary results of the January 2020 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) put the country’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3% from the same period last year.

A closer look at the data, however, showed the number of jobless Filipinos went up by 106,651 to 2.39 million in January from 2.28 million in the same LFS round last year.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate – the proportion of those already working, but still looking for more work or longer working hours – improved to 14.8% from 15.4%.

This is equivalent to 6.32 million Filipinos, down by 8,785 from 6.33 million previously.

The latest unemployment and underemployment rates were the lowest among the January rounds of the LFS since the government adopted new definitions for the LFS in 2005.

The size of the labor force was approximately 45.04 million out of the 73 million Filipinos aged at least 15 years old, yielding a labor force participation rate of 61.7%. This was higher than last year’s 60.3%.

The employment rate, which is the proportion of the employed to the total labor force, remained steady at 94.7% in January compared to the previous year.

In absolute terms, the country posted a net employment gain of 1.62 million to 42.65 million during the period from 41.03 million last year. — Lourdes O. Pilar

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