RP jobless dips to 10.1%

RP jobless dips to 10.1%

MANILA (AFP): About 10.1 percent of the Philippines' labor force were unemployed in July, down from 13.3 percent in April, the National Statistics Office said Tuesday.

The figure was also lower than the unemployment rate of 11.2 percent in the same month last year. The government issues the figures every three months.

The labor force rose 6.7 percent from a year earlier to 32.6 million people, the National Statistics Office said in a statement.

Agricultural employment rose 11.4 percent to 11 million, while industrial jobs rose 6.1 percent to 4.7 million and the services sector added 6.3 percent to 13.6 million.

The underemployment rate, measuring people who worked less than 40 hours a week, also fell to 17.7 percent of the labor force, compared to 21.2 percent in July last year.