Philippine jobless rate creeps up as disasters hit hiring

The Philippines’ unemployment rate rose to 3.8% in September from a year earlier, signaling a fragile labor recovery as natural disasters disrupted hiring ahead of the holiday season, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed on Thursday.

About 1.96 million Filipinos were jobless during the month, up from 1.89 million a year earlier, when the jobless rate was 3.7%, National Statistician Claire Dennis S. Mapa told a news briefing, citing the impact of typhoons and earthquakes on employment.

The latest reading improved from August’s 4%, when 2.03 million were out of work. Employment stood at 49.6 million, slightly below September 2024’s 49.87 million.

Job quality strengthened year on year as the underemployment rate — the share of workers seeking more hours or jobs — eased to 11.1% from 11.9%, though it worsened from 10.7% in August due to slower activity in construction.

The labor force participation rate slipped to 64.5% from 65.7% a year earlier, translating to 208,000 fewer people in the workforce, the statistics agency said. Roughly 572,000 workers also left the labor force month on month. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana