The unemployment rate in the Philippines in November 2021 stood at 6.5%, up from 7.4% the previous month, according to preliminary labour market data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The 6.5% rate was the lowest since January 2021. The second lowest was in July 2021 at 6.9%, while the third lowest was in March 2021 at 7.1%. Unemployment rate was highest in the month September 2021 at 8.9%.

The total number of unemployed persons in November 2021 was 3.16 million. It was down by approximately 345,000 from the total unemployed persons reported in October 2021.

In a statement, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the lower unemployment rate in November follows the imposition of more relaxed Alert Level 2 in various parts of the country that allowed more movement and economic activity.

“Our policies to accelerate vaccination and to shift to the more targeted alert level system with granular lockdowns enabled us to significantly bring down Covid-19 cases and deaths while bringing back more employment,” NEDA Director-General and Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said.

Meanwhile, the employment rate in November 2021 stood at 93.5% from the 92.6% in October 2021.

The youth employment rate in November 2021 was estimated at 86.6%, the highest to be reported in 2021.

By broad industry group, the services sector dominated all sectors having the largest share of employed persons with 58.1%. The agriculture and the industry sectors contributed 24.5% and 17.4% of the employed persons, respectively.

The average weekly hours worked of an employed person was reduced to 39.6 hours per week in November 2021 from 39.7 hours per week in October 2021, 40.2 hours per week in September 2021, and 41.8 hours per week in July 2021.

The labour force participation rate in November 2021 was estimated at 64.2%, up from 62.6% the previous month.