Philippines' jobless rate rises to 4.1 per cent in April

MANILA (Xinhua): The Philippines' unemployment rate in April rose to 4.1 per cent, up from 3.9 per cent in March, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said Friday.
PSA Chief Dennis Mapa told a press conference that an estimated 2.06 million Filipinos were out of work in April this year, higher than the number of unemployed people in April 2024 at 2.04 million.
Despite the slight uptick in unemployment, Department of Economy, Planning, and Development officer in charge and Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie Edillon said in a statement that the Philippine labor market continues to demonstrate resilience amid global headwinds.
"We remain on track to meet our target unemployment range of 4.4 to 4.7 percent set under the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028," she said.
Meanwhile, the Philippines' gross international reserves rose slightly to US$105.5 billion at the end of May from US$105.3 billion a month earlier, the central bank said on Friday, citing preliminary data.
The forex reserves represent an external liquidity buffer equivalent to 7.3 months worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income, which the central bank said was robust. - Xinhua

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