In the Philippines, the unemployment rate in May 2021 stood at 7.7%. This is the second lowest reported since the start of the year, following the 7.1% reported in March 2021, according to data from the Philippines Statistics Authority.

The jobless rate in May is also down from the 8.7% rate in April 2021. This was also lower than the unemployment rate in January 2021 (8.7%) and February 2021 (8.8%).

The number of unemployed Filipinos 15 years and over decreased by 408,000 individuals during the month, from 4.14 million in April 2021 to 3.73 million in May 2021.

At the same time, the employment rate in the country in May 2021 stood at 92.3%, which rebounded from the previous month, although slightly lower than the highest employment rate this year at 92.9% in March. The May 2021 employment rate is higher than the rates reported in January (91.3%), February 2021 (91.2%), and April 2021 (91.3%).

Total employed persons stood at 44.72 million in May 2021 or a 1.45 million increase in employment from the previous month’s level of 43.27 million.

By broad industry group, the services sector continued to account for the largest share with 57.8% of the total employed persons in May 2021. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 23.8% and 18.4% of the total employed persons, respectively.

The average weekly hours worked by an employed person in May 2021 increased to 39.0 hours, from 38.0 hours in April 2021.  It was, however, lower than the 39.7 hours per week in March 2021.

The overall labour force participation rate stood at 64.6% in May 2021, up from 63.2% in April.