The unemployment rate slightly worsened to 3.9 percent from 3.8 percent in March from a month ago due to reduction in the workforce in construction, and wholesale and retail trade and repair of vehicles.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also attributed the slight jump in jobless Filipinos to the resumption of schooling or household responsibilities.

Employed Filipinos decreased by 1.13 million, bringing the total workers to 48.02 million in March, down from 49.15 million recorded both for February this year and March last year.

National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa said these figures came as the labor participation rate also fell to 62.9 percent from 64.5 percent month-on-month.

He shared that 816,000 Filipinos continued schooling while 784,000 chose to fulfill household duties.

Mapa said the lower production of rice grains in certain regions also indicated fewer agricultural workers. “We saw a drop in palay production in the Cagayan Valley and Western Visayas regions,” he said.

The agriculture sector recorded the largest annual decline in workers, at 609,000. This was followed by public administration, defense and compulsory social security, which posted 394,000 fewer workers and manufacturing, which had 281,000 fewer workers.

The agriculture sector recorded the largest annual decline in workers at 609,000.

Mapa said the smaller workforce in public administration and other government jobs could be attributed to the hiring ban amid the midterm elections.

Gov’t hiring suspended

According to the Commission on Elections’ Resolution 10999, government agencies must suspend hiring from 28 March to 11 May. This aims to maintain impartial public service among government workers and prevent them from electioneering.

Meanwhile, the country’s underemployment rate increased to 13.4 percent in March from 10.1 percent in February.

This means the number of Filipinos seeking new jobs or additional work hours rose to 6.44 million from 4.96 million. The new figure was also higher than the 5.39 million underemployed Filipinos in March last year.

“What contributed to the growth was the invisible underemployed or those who desired to work for more than 40 hours a week or were looking for higher-paying jobs,” Mapa said.

He said the population of underemployed workers was broadly distributed in various industries.

National data showed that the construction industry registered the most underemployed workers at 186,000. This was followed by the wholesale and retail trade and vehicle repair and the public administration, defense and compulsory social security sector.