Unemployment rate steady at 5.3 percent: PSA

March 5, 2020

Unemployment rate in January was estimated at 5.3 percent, unchanged from a year ago,  the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Thursday. 

The labor force participation rate or the proportion of the labor force to population 15 years old and over was 61.7 percent. In January 2019, the participation rate was estimated at 60.3 percent.

Underemployed persons who worked for less than 40 hours in a week are called visibly underemployed persons. They accounted for 58.8 percent of the total underemployed in January 2020 and 50.8 percent in January 2019.

The underemployment rate, which is the percentage of the underemployed to the total employed, was estimated at 14.8 percent while it was 15.4 percent in January 2019 .

Underemployed persons who  worked  for 40 hours  or more in a week in January 2020 made up 39.7 percent

Workers in the services sector comprised the largest share of the population who are employed. These workers made up 58.6 percent of the total employed in January.

Those engaged in the wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles accounted for the largest percentage (34.5 percent) of workers in the services sector.

Workers in the agriculture sector comprised the second largest group making up 22.7 percent of the total employed in January 2020, while the industry sector had the smallest group of workers with 18.8 percent share

In January,  65.2 percent of the total employed were wage and salary workers, with those working in private establishments continue to account for the largest share. They made up 51.4 percent of the total employed in January 2020 and 51.9 percent in January 2019. DMS