THE Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said that the number of unemployed citizens went down and those employed increased as the demand for labor increased due to the opening of classes and the beginning of the harvest season.

According to PSA chief and National Statistician Claire Dennis Mapa the total number of jobless persons aged 15 and above had declined to 1.80 million in February, which was then at 2.15 million in January.

The PSA also said that this is the lowest number of unemployed individuals since December 2023, when jobless adults were recorded at 1.60 million.

Year-on-year, the number of unemployed in February this year was also lower compared to the 2.47 million jobless in February 2023.

Meanwhile, the percentage of the total 50.75 million  people in the labor force who are actively looking for work, the unemployment rate stood at 3.5%, down from 4.5% in January.

On the other hand, the number of employed individuals increased to 48.95 million from 45.94 million month-on-month.