This was higher than the reported 94 per cent employment rate in the same month last year, but slightly lower than the 95.7 per cent estimate in May this year.

The number of employed persons was 48.84 million in June this year, while the figure was 46.59 million in June 2022. The figure was 48.26 million in May this year.

The number of unemployed persons in June 2023 decreased to 2.33 million from 2.99 million in June 2022, posting a year-on-year (YoY) decline of 663,000.

However, the number of unemployed persons in June 2023 was higher by 159,000 compared with the number a month before.

In terms of rates, a lower unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent was registered in June 2023 compared with the 6 per cent estimate in June last year. The unemployment rate in May 2023 was 4.3 per cent.

Labor force participation rate (LFPR) in June this year was estimated at 66.1 per cent, higher than that recorded in June last year (64.8 per cent) and May 2023 (65.3 per cent).

The average hours worked by an employed person in June 2023 increased to 40 hours per week—slightly lower compared with 40.3 hours per week for June 2022, but higher than 39.3 hours per week for May 2023.

The underemployment rate in June 2023 was 12 per cent. This was equivalent to 5.87 million employed Filipinos, who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work. In June 2022, this was estimated at 12.6 per cent and in May 2023 at 11.7 per cent.

Manufacturing was among the sub-sectors that had the highest drop in the number of employed persons from June 2022 to June 2023

Wage and salary workers continued to account for the largest share of employed persons with 61.5 per cent of the total employed persons in June this year. This was followed by self-employed persons without any paid employee at 27.1 per cent and unpaid family workers at 9.5 per cent. Employers in their own family-operated farm or business had the lowest share of 1.9 per cent.

Youth employment rate was estimated at 90.1 per cent or 6.45 million employed youth out of the 7.16 million youth labour force. This was higher than the recorded estimate of 88.2 per cent in June last year and 89.4 per cent reported in May this year.

Unemployment rate among youth was recorded at 9.9 per cent, or 711,000 out of the 7.16 million.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)