MANILA - The Philippines' unemployment rate fell in September but underemployment climbed, the Philippine Statistics Authority said on Wednesday.

The jobless rate fell to 3.7 percent in September this year from 4 percent in August and 4.5 percent in September 2023. This meant that 1.89 million Filipino workers were unemployed in September.

Meanwhile, the underemployment rate climbed to 11.9 percent in September from 11.2 percent in August and 10.7 percent in September last year. This meant that 5.94 million workers were underemployed in September. The PSA defines underemployment as workers who already have jobs but are looking for extra jobs or job hours. A high underemployment rate is usually seen as an indicator that the jobs available are of low quality. 

Wage and salary workers accounted for 63.9 percent of the total number of employed persons in September. Self-employed persons followed at 27.4 percent, and unpaid family workers at 6.6 percent. Workers in own or family-operated farms or businesses had the lowest share of 2.1 percent.

Employees in private firms had the highest share of wage and salary workers at 76.6 percent. Employees in government or government-controlled corporations meanwhile accounted for 14.9 percent of salary workers.

The services sector remained the top source of jobs with 62.8 percent of the 49.87 million employed persons in September, the PSA said. The agriculture and industry sectors accounted for 19.9 percent and 17.4 percent of the employed persons, respectively.

Broken down by industry, administrative and support service activities brought in the most jobs at 735,000 year-on-year. Other service activities, which include repair of computers and domestic services, had 559,000 new jobs this year.

Wholesale and retail trade and the repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles had 486,000 additional jobs. This was followed by public administration and defense and compulsory social security with 333,000 jobs, and manufacturing with 200,000 jobs. 

On the other hand, the sectors that had the biggest drops in job numbers were accommodation and food service activities (242,000), agriculture and forestry (210,000), and fishing and aquaculture (136,000).

PSA Undersecretary and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said a large number of people—especially women—entered the labor market, but not all were able to get full-time employment.

“Year-on-year, you have a substantial increase in the labor market you consider as employed, which is about 2.21 million yung ating increase,” he said. Mapa noted that 1.34 million of these were women.

Asked if more people were underemployed because more are looking for work during the holidays, Mapa said, “Yes, because of the holiday season, more [want] to work, kaya tumaas yung ating employment rate, in terms of both the rate and the numbers, but hindi lahat na-absorb as like full-time.” 

Based on the previous years’ data, Mapa said those looking for jobs should look into retail trade. 

“May expectation tayo doon ano, magsisimula sa October yung mga bazaar, yung mga markets, may mga activities tayo,” he said. 

“Tapos yung accommodation services, yung mga hotels, resorts, restaurants. Yun din yung may pagtaas. Supermarkets, yung mga grocery stores. So normally, ito yung mga nagha-hire ng seasonal workers during the last quarter.” 

Mapa also said there may be a drop in jobs in the agriculture sector after the onslaught of severe tropical storm Kristine, but these may be offset by the number of seasonal workers hired by retail trade and the accommodation and food services who hire seasonal employees as the holidays draw near. 

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said the government will continue to address the constraints to high-quality job creation.

“We will strengthen collaboration with the private sector and academe to upskill the workforce, particularly in using digital technologies and other innovations," Balisacan said.