The unemployment rate dropped for the second consecutive month to 4.5 percent in April 2023, marking sustained improvements in the labor market.
“The resilience of the Philippines’ labor market bodes well for our efforts to transform the economy. To further boost job creation, enhance productivity, and improve the quality of jobs, we are prioritizing investments in infrastructure, education, and digitalization,” Finance Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said following the release of the April 2023 Labor Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The employment rate increased to 95.5 percent from the 94.3 percent recorded in the same month last year, translating to 48.1 million employed persons in April 2023.
Likewise, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) increased to 65.1 percent or about 50.3 million Filipinos in the labor force (both employed and unemployed) from 63.4 percent in April 2022.
Meanwhile, the underemployment rate registered at 12.9 percent, lower than the 14 percent recorded in April last year. This indicates a continued improvement in the quality of employment in the country, which is also reflected in the increasing contribution of the more remunerative type of work, the employment of wage and salary workers, to total employment growth.
Youth unemployment rate also decreased to 10.0 percent from 12.3 percent in the same month last year.
By major sectors, Services remained as the top source of employment, with a 61.1-percent share of the total employed population. This was followed by Agriculture and Industry at 22 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
The year-on-year (YoY) increase in employment was driven by the Services sector, particularly Wholesale and retail trade, Accommodation and food service activities, Administrative and support service activities, and Transportation and storage.
Employment generation is a priority of the Marcos administration for a genuine social and economic transformation.
In the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, the improvement of labor outcomes is guided by the government’s framework to increase income-earning ability.
Key outcomes include improving employability, expanding access to employment opportunities, and achieving shared labor market governance.
For instance, the government will continue to promote private sector spending on workforce upskilling, through the provision of cost-based incentives, as may be granted to deserving projects under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act.
The Department of Finance (DOF) will also continue to push for improvements on the country’s policies in order to make the Philippines a fertile ground for investments.
To help maintain macroeconomic stability and continue a rapidly growing economy, the DOF co-chairs the Economic Development Group (EDG) and the Inter-agency Committee on Inflation and Market Outlook (IAC-IMO) with the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
The EDG will harmonize, coordinate, complement, and synergize efforts to ensure the attainment of the country’s economic growth targets while the IAC-IMO will provide strategic advice to the EDG on bringing inflation within the government’s target path.
The amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA), Foreign Investments Act (FIA), Public Service Act (PSA), and opening up of the renewable energy (RE) sector to full foreign ownership make way for more productivity-enhancing and job-generating investments to enter the country.
