📸: panaynews.net
The country’s unemployment rate slightly went up to 3.9 percent in March 2024 from 3.5 percent in February as the El Niño phenomenon and the African swine fever (ASF) affected the workers in the agriculture sector, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Wednesday, 08 May.
In a press conference, PSA Chief Claire Dennis Mapa said the number of unemployed Pinoys reached 2.42 million in March 2024, up from 1.8 million in February 2024.
The March 2024 unemployment rate is slightly lower than the number recorded during the same month in 2023 at 4.7 percent, translating into 417,000 fewer unemployed individuals.
The state-run statistics bureau saw the biggest declines last March in agriculture and forestry by 318,000; transportation and storage by 292,000; construction by 214,000; administrative and support service activities by 118,000; and human health and social work activities by 75,000.
Mapa attributed the declines in the agriculture sector to lower production as the country faced heightened levels of heat amid the ongoing El Niño and the current African swine fever (ASF) that affected the hog production in several provinces.
The Chief Statistician said the ASF in some provinces in the country caused the 202,000 decline in hog farming last March.
He added the ongoing El Niño phenomenon lowered the agricultural production in the country.
“Ang isa sa malaking naapektuhan in terms of employment ay ‘yung agriculture sector, kasama na rin ‘yung fisheries… Ito ay talagang related to planting, harvesting, growing,” Mapa said.
“In the past, talagang may ganon kasi related ito doon sa production naman so siyempre ‘pag bumababa, ‘yung ating operators ay nagbabawas din ng workers,” he added.
Underemployment rate
The underemployed Filipinos — or those who want more hours or more jobs — dropped to 5.39 million or 11.0 percent underemployment rate.
This is better than February, when 6.08 million people were underemployed and the rate of underemployment was 12.4%, and March 2023, when 5.44 million people were underemployed and the rate of underemployment was 11.2 percent.
PSA also mentioned that the employment rate in March 2024 reached 96.1 percent, higher than the 95.3 percent estimate in March of the previous year but lower than the estimate in February 2024 at 96.5 percent.
In terms of levels, the number of employed persons reached 49.15 million, higher than the number of employed persons in March 2023 at 48.58 million and February 2024 at 48.95 million. (TCSP)
