The unemployment rate in the Philippines was estimated to be 4.2% in October 2023, according to preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. This was lower compared with the 4.5% unemployment rate recorded in both October last year and September 2023.

The reported unemployment rate in October 2023 was the lowest since April 2005.

In terms of magnitude, about 2.09 million were unemployed in October 2023. This was lower than the reported number of unemployed persons in October 2022 of 2.24 million.

The employment rate in the country was estimated at 95.8% in October 2023, the highest recorded employment rate since April 2005 and the same as the estimated rate in November 2022. The number of employed persons 15 years old and over was recorded at 47.80 million in October 2023, which was higher compared with 47.06 million in October 2022.

The labour force participation rate in October 2023 was registered at 63.9%, translating to 49.89 million Filipinos who were either employed or unemployed. This rate was lower than the reported rate in October 2022 at 64.1% and lower than the September rate of 64.1%.

Underemployed persons or those employed who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their current job or to have an additional job or to have a new job with longer hours of work was recorded at 5.60 million out of the 47.80 million employed Filipinos in October 2023. This translates to an underemployment rate of 11.7%, which was lower than the reported underemployment rate in October 2022 (14.2%).

The average weekly hours worked of an employed individual in October 2023 was estimated at 41.2 hours per week. This was higher than the 40.2 hours per week in October 2022.

By broad industry group, the services sector continued to dominate the labour market in October 2023 in terms of number of employed persons with a share of 60.1% to the total employed persons of 47.80 million. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 22.2% and 17.8% of the employed persons, respectively.

The top sub-sector in terms of the annual increase in the number of employed persons in October 2023 was accommodation and food service activities (291,000).

Meanwhile, wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 63.1% of the total employed persons in October 2023. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.8% and unpaid family workers at 6.5%. Employers in own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 2.6%.