Workers at a medicine factory in the Philippines (AFP FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Thursday bared that 4.6 million Filipinos were left unemployed in July even as COVID-19 lockdown restrictions eased in the whole country.
In a press briefing, National Statistician and PSA head Dennis Mapa said that the agency has recorded a 10 percent unemployment rate in July, which is an improvement compared to April 2020’s record of 17.7 percent or 7.3 million unemployed Filipinos.
It was in mid-March until June that Metro Manila— the Philippines’ main economic hub—was placed under strict coronavirus lockdown measures, which led to the temporary shutdown of many businesses that displaced millions of workers.
Meanwhile, Mapa said that 41.2 million Filipinos are currently employed as of July 2020, which is equivalent to a 90 percent employment rate.
This fared better compared to April 2020’s statistics of 33.8 million Filpinos, or a 82.3 percent employment rate.
“Ang naitalang employment rate nitong July 2020 ay bumaba sa 90 percent kung ikumpara sa employment rate noong July 2019 na nasa 94.6 percent,” Mapa later explained.
(The recorded employment rate this July 2020 lowered to 90 percent when compared to the employment rate in July 2019, which was recorded at 94.6 percent.)