Number of jobless Filipinos down in March

THE number of unemployed Filipinos went down to 3.44 million in March from 4.2 million in February, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said.

In a briefing on Thursday, National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said that based on the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS), the number of out-of-work individuals translates to an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent, lower than the 8.8 percent recorded a month earlier.

March’s unemployment figure was also the lowest recorded since the height of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in April last year.

Mapa said the downtrend could be attributed to the higher Labor Force Participation Rate (LFPR) which settled at 65 percent, accounting for 48.7 million Filipinos 15 years and over who were in the labor force, up from the 63.5 percent LFPR in February.

“The labor force participation rate went up because there was a substantial increase in the 15-24 [age group] and 65 above age group that participated in the labor force,” he said.

Source: TheManila Times