Jobless rate climbs to 4.5% in January

The country’s unemployment rate rose in January as the seasonal increase in jobs created by the heightened economic activity during the Christmas holidays faded.

- LOUELLA DESIDERIO

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said the results of the Labor Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the unemployment rate climbed to 4.5 percent in January from 3.1 percent in December 2023.

This translates to 2.15 million jobless Filipinos in January from the 1.6 million unemployed in December.

Based on PSA data, the country's underemployment rate also climbed to 13.9 percent in January from 11.9 percent in December 2023.

"We are seeing that workers who were hired or joined the labor market because of the economic activities in the fourth quarter are no longer there. Of course, a portion was retained. This has a seasonal factor," Mapa said.

The employment rate was estimated at 95.5 percent in January, lower than the 96.9 percent in December.

There were 45.94 million employed Filipinos in January, lower than the 50.52 million in December.

An estimated 6.39 million people were underemployed or expressed desire to have additional hours of work or an additional job in January, increasing from 6.01 million people in December 2023.