MANILA -- The country's employment rate continued to pick up in October this year under the stewardship of the Marcos administration, posting the highest rate record since January 2020 as the labor sector bounced back to the pre-pandemic levels. 

Translated to real numbers, total employed Filipinos in October was pegged at 47.11 million, up from 43.82 million in the same period last year. 

The October 2022 employment number is a little lower compared to September 2022 which saw 47.58 million employed individuals.

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) October 2022 Labor Force Survey, the country's employment rate improved to 95.5 percent in October, from 95.0 percent in the previous month, the highest rate recorded since January last year.

In October this year, the PSA said the country's unemployment rate also fell back to pre-pandemic levels at 4.5 percent, translating to 2.24 million unemployed Filipinos, a decline of 1.26 million from the 3.50 million unemployed reported in October 2021.

"Second lowest unemployment rate itong October 2022. Ito ay second from October 2019 na 4.5 percent din… Ang October 2019 and October 2022 na 4.5% unemployment [rate] ay siyang lowest since 2005,” said National Statistician Undersecretary Claire Dennis Mapa in a press conference on Wednesday. 

This is lower by 256,000 compared to the 2.50 million unemployed in September 2022. 

The country's labor force participation rate (LFPR) in October this year was registered at 64.2 percent or about 49.35 million Filipinos aged 15 years old and over, who were either employed or unemployed, according to the PSA survey.

This LFPR was higher than the reported rate in the same month in 2021 at 62.6 percent but posted a month-on-month decrement of 732 thousand individuals from the 50.08 million reported in September 2022. 

Underemployed persons or employed persons who expressed the desire to have additional hours of work in their present job or to have an additional job, or to have a new job with longer hours of work was registered at 6.67 million, translating to an underemployment rate of 14.2 percent, the PSA data showed.

This was lower than the reported rate in October 2021 (16.1 percent) and in September 2022 (15.4 percent). 

The services sector continued to dominate the employment market as it registered the lion's share of employed persons at about 59.2 percent. 

The agriculture and the industry sectors, on the other hand, accounted for 22.5 percent and 18.3 percent of the employed persons, respectively. 

By region, six regions registered unemployment rates higher than the national rate of 4.5 percent in October 2022, namely: Central Visayas (5.8 percent), Calabarzon (5.7 percent), National Capital Region (5.6 percent), Mimaropa (5.2 percent), Western Visayas (5.1 percent), and Central Luzon (4.7 percent). 

Youth LFPR was reported at 34.2 percent in October this year, lower than last year's 35.7 percent for the same period and in the previous quarter's 37.1 percent. 

Likewise, the unemployment rate among youth posted a decline from 15.1 percent in October 2021 to 11.2 percent in the same month of this year. (PND-OPS)