Unemployment rate drops to 5.5% this year
Preliminary data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed that the country’s unemployment rate this year stood at 5.5% from last year’s 6.3%. The data showed that the number of jobless individuals slightly declined to 2.4 million from 2.6 million. However, the same report also noted that the underemployment rate, or those employed but who wanted more hours of work to meet their needs, steadied at 18.3% to 7.5 million. The preliminary data showed that the country’s annual employment rate for this year is at 94.5%, equivalent to some 40.8 million jobs. Last year, the employment rate was 93.7%, equivalent to 38.7 million jobs. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development earlier said job generation should go beyond business process outsourcing.
