Manila, Philippines — The unemployment rate in the Philippines in December 2024 was recorded at 3.1%, slightly lower than the 3.2% in November 2024, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported.
Based on the December 2024 Labor Force Survey released by PSA on February 6, this percentage is equivalent to 1.63 million unemployed Filipinos in December showing a decline from the 1.66 million individuals with no job in November.
This decrease in unemployed Filipinos significantly represents a slight increase in terms of the rate of employment in the country.
PSA estimated a 96.9% rate of employment in December 2024, which is slightly higher than the 96.8% in November 2024.
“In terms of levels, the number of employed persons in December 2024 was recorded at 50.19 million. This was lower than the number of employed persons of 50.52 million in December 2023, but higher than the number of employed persons in November 2024 at 49.54 million,” the report reads.
The agency noted the services sector remains to be the top sector in terms of employment, gaining 60.5% out of the total employed persons in December 2023. This is followed by agriculture (21.3%) and industry (18.3%) sectors.
Further, underemployment rate in December 2024 is recorded at 10.9%, one point higher than the 10.8% in November 2024.
“In terms of magnitude, 5.48 million of the 50.19 million employed individuals in December 2024 expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work,” the report stated.