PSA: More Filipinos got better jobs in November

Metro Manila, Philippines - More Filipinos had “good quality” jobs in November ahead of the holiday season, the government said on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

The country’s employment rate in November stood at 96.8%, or 49.54 million employed people, higher than the 96.1% in October, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

Seasonal demand helped trim the unemployment rate to 3.2% in November, lower than October’s 3.9% and 3.6% year-on-year.

This translated to 1.66 jobless Filipinos two months ago.

According to PSA data, the sub-sector “wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles” had the largest increase in employment. It was followed by accommodation and food service activities, other service activities, manufacturing, and transportation and storage.

Year-on-year, laborers under the manufacturing industry grew the largest, especially those producing semiconductor goods, and bakery and other food items.

“Ang isa sigurong magandang balita dito sa buwan ng Nobyembre 2024 year-on-year, tumaas ‘yong ating number of employed workers na classified as wage and salary workers, ‘yon ‘yong parang proxy natin sa good quality job,” National Statistician Dennis Mapa said.

“Tumaas siya ng 1.11 million year-on-year, 950,000 galing sa private establishments. May dagdag tayo na mga 231,000 galing sa private households,” he said.

[Translation: One of the good news in November 2024 year-on-year was the number of employed workers classified as wage and salaried workers, which represents the good quality jobs. It increased to 1.11 million year-on-year, 950,000 from private establishments and 231,000 from private households.]

Wage and salary workers comprised almost 64% of employed people.

Meanwhile, underemployment — or the need to double up jobs or work extra to make ends meet — also went down to 10.8% in November from 12.6% in October.

“In terms of magnitude, 5.35 million of the 49.54 million employed individuals in November 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 PSA said.

The sector with the highest job losses was agriculture and forestry, declining by 355,000 month-on-month, attributed to the consecutive storms last year.

This could also affect production data in the fourth quarter of 2024, Mapa said.