Palace welcomes drop in unemployment rate

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ JOAN BONDOC

Malacañang on Friday welcomed the drop in unemployment rate from 6.6 percent last year to 5.8 percent this January.

“This is the lowest rate recorded for all such surveys conducted in January over the past ten years,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said in a statement.

READ: Jobless rate down, underemployment up in January

Citing the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), he said the decline was broad-based across geography, age groups, gender and education.

“This latest piece of good news points toward our continued upward trajectory along ‘Daang Matuwid’ (‘Straight Path’),” Lacierda said.

He said the country “is poised to secure its status as Asia’s Rising Tiger.”

While unemployment dropped, underemployment increased to 19.7 percent, from 17.9 percent in January 2015.

The underemployed people refer to those who want to have additional hours of work or have an additional or new job.

The PSA also reported that total employment increased by two percent or 752,000 additional workers, bringing the total number of employed Filipinos to 39.2 million.

“The services sector remained the top employment contributor, growing by 5.6%. The industry sector likewise posted 8.4% growth in employment. The PSA notes that this increase can be attributed to strong employment gains in the construction subsector, partly a result of increased public infrastructure spending during the last quarter of 2015,” Lacierda said. RAM

RELATED STORIES

Unemployment down to 6.3% in 2015

Unemployment down, underemployment up in July