Jobless rate dips to 3.9% in May

The Philippine labor market showed improvement in May as the level of unemployment and underemployment declined from the previous month, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

- By Louella Desiderio

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a press conference yesterday that results of the PSA's Labor Force Survey showed the country's unemployment rate dipped to 3.9 percent in May from the previous month and May 2024, which were both at 4.1 percent.

In terms of magnitude, the number of jobless Filipinos also went down to 2.03 million in May from 2.06 million in the previous month and 2.11 million in May last year.

Mapa attributed the improvement in the unemployment figures to the "substantial increase in the labor force participation."

The country's labor force participation rate increased to 65.8 percent in May from 63.7 percent in the previous month and 64.8 percent in May last year.

There were 52.32 million Filipinos in the labor force in May, higher than the previous month's 50.74 million and the 50.97 million in the same month last year.

The PSA said the latest labor force participation is the highest recorded since April 2005.