Unemployment rate in the Philippines declined to 10 percent in July from a record high 17.7 percent in April. The number of unemployed also went down to 4.6 million from 7.3 million.
However, if compared year on year, the employment numbers shows that we are worse off.
The 10% unemployment rate in July was almost twice the unemployment rate of July 2019. The number of unemployed also nearly doubled to 4.6 million from 2.4 million the year before.
Year on year data is a good comparison because it takes into consideration seasonal factors, such as the presence of fresh graduates in the workforce.
The National Capital Region had the worst unemployment rate for the period, at 15.8 percent, much higher compared to the national average of 10 percent. That means nearly 1 million (929,000) unemployed Filipinos in the NCR alone, about one fifth of the total unemployed in the Philippines.
