The unemployment rate dipped to 3.6 percent in November, according to the Philippine Statistic Authority (PSA) on Tuesday, Jan. 9.

This translated to 1.83 million jobless Filipinos, lower than the 2.18 million in November 2022 and 2.09 million in October 2023.

According to PSA, the labor force participation rate (LFPR) was 65.9 percent in November 2023, which was lower than the LFPR in the same month of the previous year.

The agency, however, stated that November’s LFPR was higher than that of October 2023 at 63.9 percent.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate fell to 11.7 percent in November last year, from 14.4 percent in November of the previous year. This translated to 5.79 million out of the 49.64 employed individuals.

Underemployment is the state where individuals in a labor force are not employed in full-time or regular jobs or are working jobs that do not reflect their training or economic needs.

The services sector remained to dominate the labor market in November based on the number of employed individuals.

The top five sub-sectors regarding the annual increases in the number of employed persons in the same month were agriculture and forestry, construction, transportation and storage, fishing and aquaculture, and administrative and support service activities.

On the other hand, the five sub-sectors that had the highest yearly decrease in employed persons are manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, public administration and defense, information and communication, and real estate activities.