The unemployment rate as of July 2018 reached 5.4 percent down from 5.6 percent during the same period last year, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a quarterly report Wednesday,

Out of country's labor force of 43 million, at least 2.4 million 15 years old and over were identified as unemployed.

However, the underemployment rate rose from 16.3 percent in July 2017 to 17.2 percent in July 2018.

PSA estimated that at least 7 million persons, or 17.2 percent of the employed population, were underemployed. These are composed of employed persons who want additional work hours, additional job, or those who have a new job with longer working hours.

PSA said "more males (61.1 percent) were unemployed than females (38.9 percent).

About 45 percent of the unemployed persons were in age group 15 to 24 years. Across educational groups, 39.9 percent of unemployed persons were at least junior high school, including high school graduates from the old curriculum, 36.9 percent reached college wherein 18.9 were graduates, 7.3 percent were elementary graduates, and 4.8 percent were graduates of post secondary courses."

According to PSA, an estimated 40.6 million persons were registered as employed of part of the labor force in July last year. It is 0.2 percent higher than July 2017 employment rate which recorded 94.4 percent or 40.4 million employed persons.

Most employed persons work in the services sector (57.5 percent) while 23.1 percent are in the agriculture sector and 19.4 works in the industry sector.

Of the 40.6 million employed persons, 65 percent are wage and salary workers and more than 70 percent work full time.

Out of the country's 17 regions, Cagayan Valley had the highest employment rate with 97.4 percent. Ilocos with 93.5 percent, Bicol with 93.6 percent, Central Luzon and Calabarzon with 93.7 percent, and National Capital Region with 93.9 percent were regions whose employment rate were lower than the national average of 94.6 percent, PSA said. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS