Philippine Jobless Rate Falls Slightly To 4.7%

(RTTNews) - The Philippines' jobless rate dropped marginally in March after remaining stable in the previous two months, preliminary figures from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed on Monday.

The unemployment rate edged down to 4.7 percent in March from 4.8 percent in February.

In the corresponding month last year, the rate was 5.8 percent.

The number of unemployed persons declined to 2.42 million in March from 2.88 million a year ago.

Data showed that the employment rate increased somewhat to 95.3 percent from 95.2 percent in the prior month.

The labor force participation rate was 66.0 percent in March, down from 66.6 percent in the preceding month.