Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto highlighted the sustained strength of the country’s labor market as the unemployment rate fell to 3.9% in October 2024, bringing the year-to-date average to 4.0%—well below the full-year target range.

The Philippine Development Plan sets the unemployment rate target for 2024 at 4.4% to 4.7%.

“Ibig sabihin nito, patuloy ang pagbuti ng ating labor market at nasa tamang direksyon tayo. Pero hindi po tayo titigil dahil tuloy-tuloy rin ang mga programa ng gobyerno para makapagbigay ng mas maraming kalidad na trabaho at matulungan ang mga Pilipino na tumaas pa lalo ang kanilang kita at makaahon sa kahirapan,” the Finance Chief said.

The country’s unemployment rate in October 2024 improved from 4.2% in the same month last year. 

This translates to an additional 369,000 Filipinos with jobs compared to October 2023, bringing the full-year employment creation to approximately 845,000.

The country’s underemployment rate also stood relatively low at 12.6% despite higher than the 11.7% recorded in October 2023. 

Year-to-date, the underemployment rate declined to 12.2% in 2024 from 12.5% in 2023.

With this, the total number of Filipinos employed rose to 48.2 million in October 2024, higher than the 47.8 million figure in October 2023.

More and more youth are also entering the labor force, comprising 79% of the 908,000 new entrants in the job market for October 2024.

The services sector continued to dominate the labor market, making up 61% of the total employed persons in October 2024. This was followed by agriculture (21.2% share) and industry (17.9% share) in employment.

The administrative and support service activities sectors were the biggest employment drivers for the month, adding 247,000 more workers to the labor force compared to the previous year. Most of which were call center jobs.

The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) projected the call center sub-sector’s revenue to reach nearly USD 38.0 billion in 2024, surpassing its forecast with a 7% growth from USD 35.5 billion in 2023.

Other sectors that posted additional jobs included accommodation and food service activities (215,000); transportation and storage (202,000); construction (121,000); and mining and quarrying (101,000).

Wage and salary workers also continued to make up the largest share of employed persons in the country at 63.8% in October 2024. 

This was due to the increase in managerial positions, with 1.91 million Filipinos in managerial roles recorded in October 2024—higher by 165,000 from the previous year.

In particular, 78.2% of wage and salary workers were employed by private establishments, while only 14.6% were employed by the government.

Government measures to boost employment

The recently enacted Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act is expected to attract more capital-intensive investments into the country and generate jobs in higher value-added sectors.

The government is also investing in human capital development through Republic Act No. 12063 or the Enterprise-Based Education and Training (EBET) Framework Act, which bridges education and industry needs, enhancing workforce skills and employability.

Meanwhile, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) is set to finalize the Trabaho Para sa Bayan (TPB) Plan, a 10-year strategy to create a dynamic labor market by addressing skills gaps and fostering industry-academia-government collaboration.

In line with the rise of digital technology, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the IBPAP are working to reskill and upskill the workforce for Artificial Intelligence (AI) roles.

The government has also developed a comprehensive set of policies and institutions to address climate change, given that job losses were recorded in the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sectors in October 2024 due to the successive typhoons. 

This includes the implementation of the Green Skills for Green Jobs program by DOLE and the Department of Energy (DOE) to support the highly technical skills needed in the renewable energy sector, such as project managers, engineers, and environmentalists.