MANILA -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. welcomed the recent drop in the country’s unemployment rate, deemed as the lowest since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marcos, at the same time, vowed to improve the quality of jobs to address underemployment while bolstering job opportunities in the country.

“Ever since we started with the economic team, even before I took office, we really concentrated on the creation of jobs,” he said.

“And that’s why it is having the effect now of bringing down our unemployment rate,” the President pointed out.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Tuesday that the unemployment rate stood at 5 percent in September 2022.

From 2.68 million jobless Filipinos recorded in August, the unemployment rate dropped to 2.5 million or 183,000 lower.

The figure recorded in September was also lower by 1.78 million from the 4.28 million logged in the same period last year. This was based on a PSA survey of 10,959 families nationwide.

According to PSA, the average unemployment rate in 2022 is already close to the pre-pandemic level, which was at 5.1 percent in 2019.

“This is a good sign. The economy is trying very hard to grow,” the chief executive stressed.

“We just have to be able to tolerate the shocks that are coming from abroad. But otherwise, the economy is moving in the right direction,” he added.

The sectors which posted largest increase in employment include manufacturing, education, public administration and defense, transportation and real estate.

While acknowledging that inflation remains to be a “worry”, the President expressed optimism that the country could sustain the positive momentum with the unemployment rate, noting that accelerating job generation has been among the top priorities of his administration. (PND)