LATEST official labor data showed a decline in the country’s unemployment and underemployment rates in July compared to April, but were higher when compared to July of last year.

Preliminary results of the Philippine Statistics Authority’s July 2020 round of the Labor Force Survey (LFS) put the unemployment rate at 10% versus 17.7% in April 2020 and 5.4% in July 2019.

This is equivalent to 4.571 million jobless Filipinos, lower than 7.254 million in April, but higher than 2.437 million in July last year.

Likewise, the underemployment rate — the proportion of those already working, but still looking for more work or longer working hours — was 17.3%, down from 18.9% in April but higher than 13.6% in July 2019.

In absolute terms, underemployed Filipinos numbered 7.137 million, higher than 6.388 million and 5.799 million in April 2020 and July 2019, respectively.

The size of the labor force was approximately 45.877 million out of the 74.061 million Filipinos aged at least 15 years old, yielding a labor force participation rate (LFPR) of 61.9%. This was higher than the 55.6% in April, but lower than 62.1% in the same survey round last year.

The employment rate, which is the proportion of the employed to the total labor force, registered at 90%. This was higher than the 82.3% in the previous survey round, but lower than last year’s 94.6%. The actual number of employed Filipinos reached 41.306 million as compared to April’s 33.764 million and July 2019’s 42.521 million. — Michelle Anne P. Soliman

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