The Philippines’ unemployment rate decreased to 4.8% in July 2023 from 5.2% in the same month last year, according to preliminary data from the Philippine Statistics Authority.

The number of unemployed in July 2023 was estimated at 2.27 million, posting a decline of 329,000 from the 2.60 million reported in July 2022.

The 4.8% rate in July was higher than the 4.5% seen in June 2023.

Employment rate in July 2023 was registered at 95.2%. This was higher than the reported rate in July 2022 at 94.8%, and steady from June 2023.

The country’s labour force participation rate (LFPR) in July 2023 decreased to 60.1% from 65.2% in July 2022. This LFPR translates to 46.90 million who were either employed or unemployed. July’s rate was also lower than the 66.1% rate seen in June 2023.

The Philippine Statistics Authority’s data also found that the number of underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was registered at 7.10 million translating to an underemployment rate of 15.9%. This was higher than the reported rate in July 2022 (13.8%) and June 2023 (12.0%).

On average, employed persons worked 42.3 hours per week, which was higher than the average hours worked in a week in July 2022 at 40.5 hours.

By broad industry group, the services sector consistently dominated the employment hub accounting for 59.4% of the total employed persons in July 2023. The agriculture and the industry sectors accounted for 21.5% and 19.0%, respectively.

The transportation and storage sub-sector saw the highest year-on-year increase in the number of employed persons (337,000). On the other hand wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (-1.97 million) posted the highest decline in the number of employed persons from July 2022 to July 2023.

Wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 67.2% of the total employed persons in July 2023. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 25.2% and unpaid family workers at 4.5%. Employer in own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 3.1%.