The unemployment rate in the Philippines stood at 4.5% in April 2023, down from 5.7% in April 2022, according to research from the Philippine Statistics Authority. The 4.5% rate is a preliminary estimate.

The unemployment rate in April 2023 was also down from the 4.7% rate seen in March 2023.

The estimates also showed that the number of unemployed persons in April 2023 was 2.26 million, indicating a decline of 506,000 from the 2.76 million unemployed persons in April 2022.

Meanwhile, the employment rate in April 2023 was posted at 95.5%. This was higher than the estimates in April 2022 (94.3%). In terms of magnitude, the number of employed persons rose to 48.06 million in April 2023, from 45.63 million in the same period of 2022.

The number of underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have an additional hour 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 6.20 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 12.9%. This was lower than the reported rate in April 2022 (14.0%).

By broad industry group, the services sector continued to dominate the labour market, having the largest share of employed persons at about 61.1% of the total employed persons in April 2023. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 21.9% and 17.0%, respectively.

The year-on-year gain in employment was driven by the services sector.

Wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons, with 61.5% of the total employed persons in April 2023. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.5% and unpaid family workers at 8.5%. Employers in own family-operated farms or businesses had the lowest share of 2.5%.

On average, employed persons worked 36.9 hours per week, a drop from the recorded 40.1 hours per week average hours worked in April 2022.

According to the Statistics Authority, the Labour Force Participation Rate increased to 65.1% in April 2023, or about 50.31 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over who were either employed or unemployed. The reported rate in April 2023 was higher than the reported rate of 63.4% in April 2022.