00:00 The Philippine unemployment rate hit a near two-decade low in December 2023, driven mainly by gains in construction and agriculture
00:08 The Philippine Statistics Authority reports the unemployment rate was at 3.1 percent in December, significantly lower than the 4.3 recorded in December 2022
00:18 This represents a year-on-year decrease of 617,000 unemployed persons
00:24 National statistician Dennis Mapa says the employment rate stood at 96.9 percent, the highest since 2005
00:32 Construction leads the top five sectors in terms of annual increase in employment, followed by agriculture and forestry
00:39 The underemployment rate, which is a measure of job quality, improved to 11.9 percent in December 2023, from 12.6 percent in December 2022
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