MANILA - Optimism over the availability of jobs reached "very high" levels as the number of unemployed Filipinos steadied at around 10 million, Social Weather Stations data reported by BusinessWorld newspaper on Monday showed.

The unemployment rate in June was at 22.2 percent, which is roughly equivalent to 10.5 million adults. This compared to 22.9 percent (10.4 million adults) in March and 21.7 percent (10 million adults) in June last year, according to the report.

Net optimism edged up 2 points to +31 in June from +29 in March. The report said this was an improvement to "very high" from "high."

The SWS unemployment survey is based on a nationwide poll of 1,200 respondents and defines the unemployed as those at least 18 years old and without a job.

President Rodrigo Duterte is embarking on a P8-trillion infrastructure program which is expected to generate 2 million jobs annually, according to his economic managers.

The government releases official jobless data, which includes those who are at least 15 years old. The last labor force survey showed unemployment eased to 5.7 percent in April from 6.1 percent during the same period in 2016.

The number of unemployed Filipinos declined to 2.4 million in April from 2.6 million during the comparable period last year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

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