The country's unemployment rate in January increased to 4.8%, translating to 2.37 million Filipinos, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday, March 9.
This was higher than the reported <a href="https://www.dzrh.com.ph/post/umeployment-rate-4.3percent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">4.3%</a> jobless Filipinos in December 2022.
However, the result of the <a href="https://psa.gov.ph/content/unemployment-rate-january-2023-estimated-48-percent" target="_blank" rel="noopener">January 2023 Labor Force Survey</a> showed that the unemployment rate decreased as compared to 6.4% in the same month in 2022.
"Pinakamalaki dito yung construction of buildings, bumaba quarter to quarter mga 415,000, pangalawa yung building finishing, electrical insulation," National Statistician Dennis Mapa said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the employment rate in the country registered at 95.2% or 47.35 million Filipinos, and the labor force participation rate (LFPR) increased to 64.5%, equivalent to 49.72 million Filipinos.
Underemployed persons or those who expressed the desire to have additional jobs dropped to 14.1% or 6.65 million Filipinos in January.
The following are the top five sectors with the highest year-on-year increase in the number of employed persons in January 2023:
<ul>
<li>Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (1.53 million)</li>
<li>Agriculture and forestry (960,000)</li>
<li>Accommodation and food service activities (549,000)</li>
<li>Transportation and storage (303,000)</li>
<li>Other service activities (203,000)</li>
</ul>
In contrast, the following sectors exhibited a drop in the number of employed persons from January 2022 to January 2023:
<ul>
<li>Construction (-334,000)</li>
<li>Water supply; sewerage, waste management and remediation activities (-34,000)</li>
<li>Professional, scientific and technical activities (-19,000)</li>
</ul>
"Wage and salary workers contributed the largest share of employed persons with 62.3 percent in January 2023. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.1 percent and unpaid family workers at 8.1 percent. Employer in own family-operated farm or business has the lowest share at 2.6 percent," the PSA added.
Meanwhile, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said that the government will prioritize 'the upskilling and reskilling of the workforce to equip them with higher competencies by expanding lifelong learning opportunities'.

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Unemployment rate swells to 4.8% in January — PSA