The Philippines’ unemployment rate rose from 3.9 percent in March to 4% in April, according to data released on Thursday by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
At a news conference, PSA head Dennis Mapa stated that 2.04 million Filipinos were unemployed in April of this year.
“This was lower than the estimated number of unemployed persons of 2.26 million in April 2023 and 2.15 million in January 2024,” Mapa said.
According to Arsenio Balisacan, secretary of the National Economic and Development Authority, the April unemployment rate for this year is less than the 4.5 percent figure for April 2023.
“The government’s massive infrastructure push is expected to create opportunities in several priority sectors, such as energy, logistics, and tourism,” Balisacan said.
Balisacan stated that the government “will also explore opportunities for quality job growth in the mining sector, leveraging available technologies to develop value-added activities such as mineral processing.”
