Unemployed Filipinos hit 4.25 million in September, up 9.05 percent from 3.88 million in August, bringing the month’s unemployment rate to 8.9 percent — the highest since January this year, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
National Statistician Dennis Mapa said there were 47.45 million employable individuals for the month, down from 48.12 million in August.
Employed individuals were at 43.59 million, down from 44.23 million, translating to 640,000 jobs lost between August and September.
The PSA said individuals who worked a full eight hours a day or more, or 40 hours a week and more, were at 43.59 million.
The average weekly hours worked by an employed person in September 2021 was reported at 40.2 hours per week. This was higher than the average weekly hours worked reported in August 2021 at 39.6 hours.
Individuals who wished to work 40 hours a week, meanwhile, was pegged at 4.42 million Filipinos while another 1.78 million were working 40 hours a week but still wished to have additional hours of work in their present job, or to have a new job with longer working hours.
This brings the unemployment rate in the country to 14.2 percent, equivalent to 6.18 million individuals, the PSA said.
In terms of industry, the services sector consistently remained as the dominant employment hub, absorbing 57.8 percent of the total employed population in September 2021.
The agriculture and the industry sectors contributed 23.5 percent and 18.7 percent, respectively.
The PSA said on a month-on-month change in employed persons, the top five sub-sectors that showed the biggest increase in employment were wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (353,000); public administration and defense; compulsory social security (118,000); education (115,000); construction (105,000); and administrative and support service activities (89,000).
The top five sub-sectors with the biggest drop in employed individuals for the month were agriculture and forestry (862,000); manufacturing (343,000); information and communication (126,000); mining and quarrying (75,000); and real estate activities (69,000).