Philippine jobs situation improves slightly

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines said Wednesday that unemployment improved slightly in April, but more than one in four adults remained jobless or are looking for more work.

The National Statistics Office put the jobless rate at 7.2 percent last month, down slightly from 7.4 percent in January and significantly lower than the year-earlier level of 8.0 percent.

However, the underemployment rate, or people holding down part-time jobs, stood at 19.4 percent, unchanged from January and up from 17.8 percent in the same period last year.

Unemployment data is release on a quarterly basis.

There were 39.7 million people working, a third of them farm hands and more than half in the services sector. Just one in six worked in factories.

The Philippine economy grew by a slower than expected 4.9 percent in the three months to March, hit by a drop in global trade and less spending in infrastructure, the government said last month.