The employment rate in the Philippines was placed at 95.8% in November 2022, the highest recorded employment rate since April 2005, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

At the same time, the jobless rate in the Philippines stood at 4.2% in November 2022, down from 4.5% in October 2022 and 6.5% in November 2021, according to data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

In total there were approximately 2.18 million unemployed in November 2022. This was lower than the reported unemployed persons in October 2022 of 2.24 million and in November 2021 of 3.16 million. 

Underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was registered at 7.16 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 14.4%. This was lower than the reported rate in November 2021 (16.8%) but higher than the reported rate in October 2022 (14.2%).

Meanwhile, there were 49.71 million persons aged 15 years old and over who were employed in November 2022, compared to 47.11 million in October 2022 and 45.47 million in November 2021.

By sector, the services sector continued to dominate the employment market in November, having the largest share of employed persons of about 60.5%. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 21.4% and 18.1% of the employed persons, respectively.

In terms of year-on-year change in the number of employed persons in November 2022, the top five sub-sectors with the highest increase were the following:

• Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (1.31 million);
• Manufacturing (975,000)
• Accommodation and food service activities (750,000);
• Transportation and storage (491,000); and
• Administrative and support service activities (376,000).

In contrast, there were five sub-sectors with annual declines in employment which were as follows:

• Fishing and aquaculture (-532,000);
• Education (-45,000)
• Public administration and defense; compulsory social security (-40,000); and
• Construction (-30,000)

The average weekly hours worked of an employed person in November 2022 slid to 39.3, from 40.2 and 39.6 hours per week in October 2022 and November 2021, respectively.

The country’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) picked-up at 67.5% in November 2022, the highest rate since April 2005. This was up from the 64.2% rate seen in both October 2022 and November 2021. The 67.5% rate translates to about 51.88 million Filipinos 15 years old and over who were either employed or unemployed.