Philippines' unemployment rate drops to decades-low in Dec, 2023

Manila, Feb 7 (IANS) Philippines logged drop in unemployment rate to 3.1 per cent in December, 2023, the lowest since 2005, the country's statistics authority said on Wednesday.

Addressing a press conference, Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) head Dennis Mapa said: "The full-year unemployment rate for 2023 was 4.3 per cent compared to 5.4 per cent in 2022,"

About 1.60 million were jobless in December last year, Mapa said, Xinhua news agency reported.

"This was lower than the reported number of unemployed persons in December 2022 of 2.22 million and in November 2023 of 1.83 million," Mapa added.

The country's labour market "remains robust, with the lowest unemployment rate in nearly two decades", National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.

"We welcome the news of a record-low unemployment rate signifying the economy's sustained momentum and resiliency," he said, adding the government will ramp up "social and physical infrastructure investments and dramatically improve human capital to strengthen the employment prospects.