The unemployment rate in the Philippines rose to 4.8 percent in January 2023 from 4.3 percent in December 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Thursday. PSA data showed 2.37 million Filipinos were out of work in January, higher than the 2.22 million in December 2022. "The main factor that contributed to the high unemployment numbers in January was construction, with about 557,000," PSA head Dennis Mapa told a news conference, adding that the estimated unemployment rate in January was lower than the 6.4 percent a year earlier.

He said the Philippines recorded the highest unemployment rate in April 2020 at 17.6 percent at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when the government imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of COVID-19, and the jobless rate started to drop from July 2020 until November 2022 when it stood at 4.2 percent.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP