Philippine jobless rate inches up to 3.9% in March

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ unemployment rate hardly moved in March but the quality of available jobs had deteriorated, as the kind of employment generated by the election season might not be enough for many households to make ends meet.

A nationwide survey of 11,188 families showed there were 1.93 million Filipinos who were either jobless or out of business in March, down from 1.94 million in February, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday.

That was equivalent to an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent, slightly higher than the 3.8 percent recorded previously. At the same time, the March jobless rate matched the reading registered in the same month last year.

The flattish unemployment rate coincided with a decline in job seekers. PSA data showed the local labor force in March was composed of 49.96 million individuals aged 15 years old and above who actively looked for work, lower than the 51.09 million chalked up in the previous month.

That translated to a labor force participation rate of 62.9 percent, down from 64.5 percent before. At a press conference, National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said the top reasons cited by those who dropped out of the labor force were schooling and family duties.

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Weaker job quality

But for people who were able to land a job, data showed some of them might have secured low quality employment that does not pay well.

State statisticians reported that there were 6.44 million employed Filipinos who still had to look for additional working hours or jobs to augment their income, yielding an underemployment rate of 13.4 percent in March, the highest in 11 months.

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At the same time, the number of wage and salary workers, a proxy for good quality jobs, declined to 30.44 million from 31.06 million previously.

Leonardo Lanzona, a labor economist at Ateneo De Manila University, said the increase in seasonal jobs ahead of the midterm elections in May hardly translated to a stronger purchasing power for Filipinos amid rising costs of living.

“The lower inflation rate only means that the higher prices have not gone higher but remain elevated to make it difficult for households to meet their basic needs. A lot of the jobs generated this month and even last month are election-related and are contractual in nature,” Lanzona said.

“Wages may have declined as the resources of the politicians have dwindled as the elections draw nearer. Election workers are beginning to realize that this patronage relationship they are engaged in is not enough to place food on the table,” he added.

 

(2025/05/08-02:32)