Unemployment back at pre-pandemic level

(UPDATE) KEY job indicators have returned to pre-pandemic levels, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported on Wednesday, a development said to be the result of further economic reopening.

Unemployment eased to 4.5 percent in October, preliminary results of the PSA’s latest Labor Force Survey showed, down from the 5.0 percent and 7.4 percent, respectively posted a month and a year earlier.

“This is the lowest unemployment rate recorded for all October rounds since 2019,” the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said in a statement.

Employment, at 95.5 percent from 95 percent in September, “was the highest rate recorded since January 2020 and registered to have bounced back to the pre-pandemic levels,” the PSA separately said.

“The country’s sustained recovery of the labor market backs our confidence that our policies and interventions to reinvigorate our economy are working,” Socio