The unemployment rate in the country reached 3 million in June, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Monday, Aug. 8.

In a report by DZRH’s Nicole Lopez, PSA’s Labor Force Survey (LFS) shows that over 2.99 million Filipinos are unemployed out of the 49.58 million who were in the labor force in June 2022.

The figure for unemployment is higher than the 2.93 million recorded in May.

The unemployment rate increased to 6 percent but this is lower than the 7.7 percent rate in June 2021.

PSA cited the five sub-sectors with the recorded decrease in employment, namely: wholesale, and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles with 1.22 million declines; manufacturing with 101,000; accommodation and food services activities with 91,000; transportation and storage with 90,000; financial and insurance activities with 55,000.

The underemployment rate was down at 12.6 percent in June 2022 from 14.5 percent in May.

While there was a large employment increase in the following subsectors: agriculture and forestry with a 1.26 million increase; public administration and defense with 164,000; education with 141,000; mining and quarrying with 138,000; and other service activities with 132,000.

PSA stated that the average working hours worked by an employed person in June 2022 was at 40.3 hours per week. This is higher than 39.8 hours in May 2022 and 39.0 hours in June 2022.

The Youth LFS showed that employment of young Filipinos, ages 15 years old and above, increased to 88.2 percent in June 2022, from 87.9 percent in May 2022.

The youth’s unemployment decreased to 35.9 percent in June 2022 from 36.2 percent in May 2022.