(POLITIKO) Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada has welcomed the decline in the country’s unemployment rate, from 4.3 percent in January to 3.8 percent in February as reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
“The continued decline in the unemployment rate to 3.8 percent in February, down from 4.3 percent along with the decrease in underemployment from 13 percent to 10.1 no longer comes as a surprise,” Estrada said on Wednesday (April 9).
Estrada attributed this to the country’s “notable and positive economic developments” as well as its “steady economic progress.”
He cited the Philippine Development Report 2024 in highlighting the country’s steady economic progress, with a Gross Domestic Product growth of 5.8%, a declining unemployment rate of 4.3%, and poverty incidence dropping to 15.5%.
Estrada urged the national government to keep up the work in addressing poverty and unemployment, as well as called for more support for the micro, small, and medium enterprises which comprise the bulk of the business sector.
“While these figures are encouraging, we must not lose momentum — especially after the May elections — as some of the employment opportunities were tied to political organizations, as noted by the PSA,” Estrada said.
The Feb. 2025 unemployment rate translates to 1.94 million unemployeed individuals, higher than the 1.8 million unemployed individuals in Feb. 2024, but lower than the 2.16 million figure in Jan. 2025.